Haunted
by starlily11
Summary: When Serena is uprooted from her home in Seattle and forced to move to a small town in Wisconsin, she is less than happy. However, the move seems even less of a good idea when unexplainable things begin to happen. Something sinister haunts her every step.
1. Prologue

**Haunted**

**Disclaimer:** I think you guys know this by now, but I guess I have to say it anyway…I don't own Sailor Moon. I never have, and I never will.

**Serena:** Thank God for that; if you had it your way, I'd be dead!

**Starlily11:** Actually, that's one of my best friends. I adore you, personally.

**Serena:** Really?

**Starlily11: **Yeah. Hannah, however…yeesh! Oh, well, she'll come around… I hope.

**AN: **This is supposed to be slightly funny, but it might just turn out to be warped. NO FLAMES. Any flames will be used to roast my annoying older brother.

**Prologue: Till Death Do Us Part…Not**

Serena skipped down the stairs, happy that she was on time…for once. Her mom smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then handed her lunch to her and told her to get to school. Serena hugged her mom and dad goodbye, and ran to school so she could talk to her friends and maybe sneak in a make-out session with her cute boyfriend Seiya. Sure enough, Seiya was there, along with Taiki and Yaten, his older brothers. Taiki was dating Serena's friend Amy, and Yaten was dating her best friend Mina.

The blonde threw her arms around Seiya's neck and kissed him. Seiya returned the kiss, and it turned into an instant round of tonsil hockey. Not that Taiki and Yaten cared; they were doing the same thing with their girlfriends. Well, actually, Taiki and Amy were doing a controlled, chaste version of what the other two couples were doing.

They were all glad that things had worked out this way. It was enough to make Serena glad Darien had cheated on her; if he hadn't done that, and she hadn't caught him, she would never have been able to be with the one she really loved. It was also good that the Outers had decided to get over their distrust of the Starlights. Nobody really wanted to get on Amara's or Trista's bad side.

Eventually, Seiya and Serena had to come up for air. The blonde snuggled into the dark-haired boy's chest and sighed contentedly. Seiya was the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. He treated her better than Darien ever had; that was for darn sure! This fact was one of the things that had helped to convince the Outers that Seiya was the right one for their Princess. Serena felt Seiya's arms wrap around her, and she felt complete. Nothing would ever get them to part.

†**Ѣ****Ѣ****Ѣ****Ѣ****†**

Serena sat down hard. "We're _moving_?" she managed to choke out.

"Yes, dear, we are," her mother told her gently. "We're leaving Seattle and going to Augusta, Wisconsin. Your dad's gotten a promotion. Isn't that wonderful?"

"We're moving," Serena stated.

"Yes. We are."

"But we _can't_! My whole life's here! _Seiya_ is here!"

"You can still e-mail him and call him, text him…it'll be fine."

"But I won't be able to _see_ him!" the blonde wailed.

"We'll visit."

"You say that, but you'll forget," Serena replied sulkily.

"I promise we won't."

"I don't wanna leave."

Sammy broke in. "Serena's right. It isn't fair that you just drop this on us and expect us to be okay with it. Our lives are here. It isn't fair for you to expect us to be able to just pick up and leave without a fuss."

"We're just trying to do what's best for the family," Mr. Tsukino told his son.

"No. You're just trying to do what's best for yourselves," Serena snapped. The blonde stood and raced out of the house, ignoring her parents' orders to come back this instant.


	2. Act One

**Act One: Breaking the News**

**AN:** Hmm, how are the Scouts and the guys going to take this?

Serena wandered into Rae's temple, everything made blurry by the haze that had formed in her mind. The blonde sat down, oblivious to her friends' greetings and stared blankly at the wall. She was trying to convince herself that there was no way she'd heard right. Seriously, her parents couldn't be _that _cruel…could they? The blonde was utterly lost and confounded. She had no idea what to do, or how to tell her friends. It was just so _wrong_! There was no way she was being dragged away from everything she lived for…was there?

The part of her that was still connected to reality saw through the haze that Seiya was kneeling in front of her. 'Why's he doing that?' she wondered dazedly. The blonde sank even deeper into the mind-numbing haze that surrounded her. She tried to remember exactly what her parents had said; if she did that, maybe it would turn out that this moving business was just a hallucination brought on by stress. Vaguely, she felt a hand gently stroke her face. What was going on? Why couldn't she think straight?

"…not responding. Is there a new enemy?" Amy's voice broke through the haze. What was she talking about? Didn't she see that the Apocalypse had started?

"…wrong with her? …hurt her, I'll kill him!" Seiya was speaking now. He sounded upset. Serena wondered why. Did he know that her life was over?

_**SLAP!**_

Serena was jerked back into reality as Rae's hand connected with her face. The blonde rubbed her cheek and glared at Rae.

"What was _that_ for?" she asked irritably.

Rae replied, somewhat apologetically, "Sorry, Serena. You were zoned out, and it looked like you were about to go comatose on us."

Amy inquired worriedly, "Is there a new enemy?"

"No… unless, of course, my evil parents can be considered the enemy."

"What, did they cancel your subscription to _Cosmogirl_?" Rae snickered.

"No."

"Did they confiscate your I-pod because your grades stink?"

"No…what they're sentencing me to is a fate worse than death."

Mina her eyes wide, gasped, "Are they sending you to…to _military school_?"

Serena laughed sardonically. "I wish," she snorted.

"Just spit it out, Serena," growled Rae.

"Okay. Here goes. We're m-…. We're m-…m-…oh, I can't say it!" The blonde groaned.

"Oh, dear God!" Rae grumbled. "Serena, what are you trying to say?"

"My dad got a promotion."

"And that's bad because…?"

"Well, his promotion involves…uh….uh-mm…_relocating_ to…uh…uh-mm….Wisconsin."

Dead silence. One could almost hear the metaphorical crickets chirping in the background. Serena sat quietly. She needed to let everyone process what she'd just said.

"You're _moving_?" Mina shrieked.

Serena nodded, her face becoming stony. "You can see why military school sounds like a better idea."

"To _Wisconsin_?" Mina screeched.

The other blonde nodded again.

"When?" Seiya asked sadly.

"I don't know. I didn't stick around to hear more. It might be a good idea if I stayed here awhile…I didn't exactly leave on the best terms with my parents."

"But you _can't _move!" Mina cried. "Artemis and Luna are together, and all of us are here in Seattle! The love of your life is in Seattle!"

"I've tried to explain that. I think I'll let Luna stay here, though. It isn't fair to split her and Artemis up because my parents are jerks."

Luna, who had been sitting quietly, preparing herself to say goodbye to Artemis, gave a start at that. "Serena, you don't have to do that," she exclaimed. "I'll be all right!"

"You and I both know that you'd be miserable. I've already made up my mind, Luna. You're staying. It's bad enough that my parents are separating me from Seiya, but I'll die before I let you get separated from Artemis. You'd be miserable without each other…I can't do that to you."

"But…"

"No 'buts'. I'll be okay. Besides, I've managed to wrangle a promise from Mom that we'll visit, and I'll still be able to send e-mail…and text."

"Are you sure you'll be all right? Being in a new place without any of the usual faces around can be nerve-wracking," Luna worried.

"I'll be okay. Who knows? Maybe it'll turn out that Dad didn't get the promotion and we'll be able to stay put."


	3. Act Two

**Act Two: Goodbyes**

Serena tossed her things into the boxes her parents had supplied her with. She'd already gotten Luna settled in at Mina's; all she had left to do was pack her stuff. Mentally cursing her parents in every way she knew how, the blonde put her energy and focus into how she was going to pack everything and keep stuff from breaking. With tears in her eyes, she fingered the necklace Seiya had given her. It might as well have been all that she had left of him; she vowed never to take it off.

Sighing, she turned her I-pod on and cranked the volume up to the highest possible level, then stuffed the ear buds in her ears, blaring _Nagareboshi He_ loudly enough to stop all rational thought. She didn't care if it damaged her hearing; she was already losing everything she'd ever cared about. Why should she care about her _hearing_?

Serena let Seiya's angelic voice carry her mind across the galaxy, absent-mindedly tossing her things into boxes, not caring if they ended up in places that made no sense. She let the beauty of the song ease her anxiety and pain. She saw her mom out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored her. The blonde had been doing a "you don't exist to me" routine ever since she'd come home after speaking with her friends. It had gotten her promises of grounding, but she didn't care. She was beyond caring about that kind of thing at this point.

Naturally, it was surprising when someone yanked the ear buds from her ears. She turned and glared at the perpetrator, who turned out to be her mother. The blonde looked her mother in the eyes steadily, her face stony.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want you to stop acting like a brat," her mother replied.

"I'm not trying to be a brat; I'm trying to make a point."

"I understand that you're angry, but sulking and pretending we don't exist isn't helping."

"You say you care about me; prove it. Let me stay here. If I'm forced to move with this family, I can tell you that I will not survive for long."

"Please…cut the drama."

"I'm being completely serious. You can leave now. I need to pack."

"That's enough, young lady! You will respect me!"

"I lost all respect for you when you pulled this 'we're moving' crap," Serena answered icily, and turned her back on her mother.

Mrs. Tsukino left the room. Serena replaced her ear buds and continued to blast music in her ears.

**жѢ****†****Ѣ****†****Ѣ****†****Ѣж**

Serena hugged Seiya goodbye, pushing back the tears that threatened to break loose. Then, she received suffocating hugs from Mina and Lita. Surprisingly, she even got a brief hug and "I'll miss you," from Yaten. Amy gave her a gentle hug and a reminder to try and study. Rae handed her a ton of new manga. From the Outers, she received orders to call them at least once a week and to let them know if anything strange or frightening was going on. Taiki murmured, "I'll miss you," and then whispered, "Call if you need anything. We'll be glad to help." Serena smiled at him and gave him a hug.

"Come _on_, Serena!"Sammy grumbled. "If you don't get in the car, we'll never make it to Wisconsin in less than three days!"

Serena retorted, "Stuff it, Sammy, or I'll make sure we don't get there in less than a month!" Then, she mumbled, "God, why did you have to make my brother such a pest?" She then threw her arms around Seiya and received a final kiss from him, and she quickly walked away, the pain growing with every step she took.

Once in the car, she put her ear buds in and wallowed in her depression to the dark, haunting lyricism of Evanescence.


	4. Act Three

**Act Three: Nothing's There**

**AN:** I know you're waiting for the story to start…calm down!

It took a day and three hours to get to the place Serena was going to be forced to call home. As soon as she got out of the car and set foot on the property, the blonde felt that something was wrong. She didn't see why; the house was beautiful, and surrounded by trees and meadows. It looked inviting, but it felt wrong.

Serena walked around the property, feeling a sense of unease that she couldn't shake off. With a shiver, she turned up her I-pod and tried to get a grip. As she walked around the back, she was compelled to touch the brick wall. When she did so, she felt an unnamed fear crash down on her, and she removed her hand from the wall. The fear receded. 'What's going on here?' the blonde wondered.

Fortunately, she had little time to think about the wrongness of the place. The movers arrived, and from then on, it was a flurry of activity. Serena ended up in the basement. Almost immediately, the fear returned. When she opened the door to the stairwell that would lead her down to her new abode, she discovered that it was pitch black. The blonde flipped the switch and turned on the light. Even so, it seemed significantly darker than the rest of the house. As she descended the stairs, she noticed that the air seemed almost oppressive.

The blonde began to unpack. Her furniture had already been moved down there and placed where she needed it to be. She placed a picture of her and Seiya on the dresser. As she did so, she felt something like a finger run down her spine. With a yelp, she turned around. Nothing was there. Unnerved, but refusing to let it get to her, Serena returned to the task of unpacking and getting settled. She placed her vials of perfume and her hairbrush and pins on the dresser as well, arranging them just so. She put away her clothes and plugged in her laptop, put her cell phone on its charger, and made her bed. The whole time, she had a feeling that she was being watched.

Serena kept finding herself glancing at the closet for some reason. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone…or some_thing_, was watching her.

"Calm down, Serena," she told herself. "It's a new place. You're not used to it yet. There's no way this place is haunted. Your parents wouldn't let you stay in the basement of a house that was haunted."

The blonde took a deep breath and turned around to see how her room looked. As she turned her eyes from the door to the closet, something caught her eye. The closet doors had mirrors on them, but that wasn't what held her gaze. However, what was in the mirror did. In the mirror, she saw a beautiful woman in a white dress standing right behind her. The dress was stained with blood, and a knife was buried in the woman's chest. Serena turned around. Nothing was there. She turned her eyes to the mirror. Nothing.

"I _really_ don't like it here," Serena whispered. "But there is no way this place is haunted. I'll go to sleep tonight, and it'll all have been just a crazy dream. I'm hallucinating."

As she said this, she felt the finger go down her back again.

"Don't look, Serena," she murmured. "Nothing's there."

Just then, her cell phone rang. The blonde jumped, and checked the caller-id. It was Seiya. When she answered, she kept her voice calm and steady. There was no need to worry Seiya. 'After all, nothing was there,' she thought.


	5. Act Four

**Act Four: Wackiest Phone Conversation EVER!**

**Serena:** You're a sadist, you know that?

**Starlily11:** Can it, Serena! Or would you like me to make something _really_ spooky happen?

**Serena: **Shutting up now…

**Starlily11:** On with the story!

Still staring at the mirrored closet doors, Serena answered the phone. Somehow, she managed to keep her voice steady as she chirped, "Hey, Seiya!"

Seiya wasn't fooled. "Odango, are you all right? You sound upset."

"Me? Upset? Nooo, just having post-moving jitters."

"You're a terrible liar, you know that?"

"Lying? Who's lying?"

"Seriously, Odango? You seriously think that I can't tell when you're freaked out or upset?"

"Okay…I just thought I saw something, that's all. My new room's in the basement, and the basement in my new house is creepy."

"What did you think you saw?"

"It's nothing, Seiya. I've just been watching too many episodes of _The Haunted_ on Animal Planet, and they finally caught up to me. I'm sure that's all it is."

"You're avoiding answering the question, Odango. I know you better than that."

"I thought I saw a ghost."

"A ghost?"

"Yeah. I told you it was no big deal." Serena could have smacked herself for that fib.

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I miss you and everyone else, though."

"We miss you, too. Class is even more boring now that you're not here."

"The fact that you're on the other side of the country makes life a lot scarier. I feel totally lost…and it doesn't help that this house has a creepy vibe."

"Wait… it isn't just your room?"

"Nope, it's the whole house. I guess I just need to get used to being in a new place. I'll probably be my old self again in a few weeks."

"You're absolutely sure you'll be okay? I'll be there in seconds if you need me."

"I'm fine, Seiya. Really. Oh, my God!" Serena backed up. The woman was back, and this time, she had a black wolf with her. As Serena watched, the two merged, and formed a creature that was scary beyond all belief.

At Serena's exclamation, Seiya's tone became apprehensive. "Odango, you okay?"

Serena's voice was remarkably high pitched as she tried to answer Seiya calmly and keep from screaming at the same time. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just my imagination running away with me. Sleeping in a car doesn't agree with me," the blonde squeaked.

"What's happening, Odango?"

"The the lights are crap down in the basement, and the doors on my closet have mirrors…it's making me see things." Serena's voice returned to its normal register.

"If you see something twice, it usually means there's something there."

"Believe me, I've looked, and it only appears on the closet doors. Nothing is physically there. Maybe the doors on the closet double as some sort of television or projector screen…"

"That's weird, Odango."

"I know, right? It's probably nothing."

"The last time you said that, you almost got killed."

"I've gotten smarter since then. I'd have to be somewhat intelligent, or else I wouldn't have survived the battle with Chaos."

"You have a point, but some people—ahem…Taiki—would argue that your logic has flaws."

"If you want to get technical, it probably does. But if you just look at the asking price and avoid really thinking about it, it makes perfect sense."

"Very true."

"Fortunately, most people are aware of the technical state of things, but they choose to ignore it."

"Have you been trying to win a debate against Amy and Taiki again?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Well, you've won against me, but something tells me that Amy and Taiki would be able to argue this point further."

"Of course they would; they're, like, geniuses!"

Serena's mother chose that moment to yell that dinner was ready.

Serena chose not to reply, but she told Seiya; "I have to go. Parental unit/Prison warden says it's time to eat."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm gonna need it. Love you."

"I love you, too. Let me know if you're still seeing scary stuff. Sometimes there are things that can't be seen."

"I know. I remember the hairbrush attack. Did we ever figure out who was doing that?"

"Nope."

"Oh, well…it only happened that one time."

"Yeah, except that we were saying the lamest things for the better part of a year."

"Yeah…I remember when Kakyuu-hime first realized that we were using those lines. She was so confused!"

"No kidding. In a way, it was kind of funny, though."

"Yeah, but the funny part of it never did make up for the massive migraine I got from it."

Mrs. Tsukino yelled, "SERENA! DINNER! NOW!"

"Gotta go. My jailer awaits me at the dinner table."

"Okay. Taiki and Yaten are giving me dirty looks over here."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. I'm hanging up now."

"Okay."

Seiya still didn't hang up.

"I'd better hang up first," Serena said.

"You do that."

Serena didn't hang up.

"Okay…this is awkward," she mumbled.

"Yeah, no kidding. Okay, we count to three and hang up together."

"Okay."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three."

Neither person hung up.

"You hang up first," Serena said.

"Okay."

Dead silence, but no one hung up. Finally, Yaten, who was getting annoyed, grabbed the phone and said, "Bye, Serena," and then hung up.

Serena laughed and went upstairs.


	6. Act Five

**Act Five: The Haunted Room**

**AN:** For those of you who had no clue what I was on about with the hairbrush attacks last chapter, I recommend reading the story in my section titled 'Sailor Moon: Unseen Evil'. Otherwise, the joke will make no sense.

Serena had managed to convince Seiya that she was unafraid of her surroundings, but convincing herself of her lack of fear was a mammoth task. She joined her family for dinner and continued to ignore her parents. After that, she returned to the basement and stared fixedly at her closet. Nothing appeared. Thus, the blonde decided that it was a good idea for the sake of her sanity to conclude that she was just over-tired. She had seen nothing.

The blonde got ready for bed and lay down, still half-expecting something to happen. She didn't know why she had that feeling, but it gave her the creeps. No matter what she did, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was supposed to happen. Instinctively, she knew that it could never be anything good. Experience had taught her that. 'I wish Luna was here,' she thought. 'She'd be able to tell me if I'm crazy or not.' She silently reprimanded herself for being so selfish. She wasn't going to separate Luna from the love of her life just because of one little incident. Hell, the feeling of a finger going down her back could probably be explained quite logically.

As she closed her eyes, she thought she saw a flash of white and red. 'Don't think about it,' she told herself. 'It's just your mind playing tricks on you.' It was becoming strangely cold. The blonde shivered and pulled the blankets close to her. The finger trailed down her back again, cold as ice. Serena kept her eyes tightly closed, even though the rules of self-preservation dictated that she should open them and find out what was touching her. She didn't want to see whatever was connected to the finger going down her back.

A cold wind blew through the room, despite the fact that there were no windows, and there was only one door leading out of the room. Serena kept her eyes shut, fighting back the scream that was rising in her. "This isn't real, this isn't happening, it's just dream," she whispered to herself. "None of this is actually happening it's just a nightmare. When you open your eyes, you'll be back in Seattle, and none of this will have happened." Fatigue was suddenly closing in on her, and she sank into the sweet oblivion of a dreamless sleep.

As the blonde slept, a beautiful woman wearing a white, bloodstained dress stood over her. Her hands held out, she seemed to be calling on something unknown to anyone who might have seen her. Slowly, a faint golden light flowed from the blonde's unconscious form into the woman's hands. The light then worked its way up from her hands and curled softly in tendrils of gold around her arms and body, then sank into her skin.

"Sleep well, young one. You have no idea of the plans I have for you," the woman whispered softly.

Beside her, a black wolf whined quietly. She turned to the beast. "Hush, Maximus. You might wake her. She must rest if the energy we have taken is to be replenished. I have no desire for this new source to run out soon. Her energy is like nothing I've ever felt before."

The wolf kept silent, obeying his mistress. The woman turned back to the sleeping girl. "Who are you, to possess such pure, strong energy?" she wondered quietly.

She turned back to Maximus. "Maximus, come. We have taken enough for tonight." Then, together, woman and beast disappeared through the wall.

**AN: **If you want to find out what is going to happen next, please click the little button below that says "Review". My imagination is hungry, and a hungry imagination causes a story to die. You feed my imagination, the more information you get.


	7. Act Six

**Act Six: First Day of School…Yikes.**

**Serena: **You do realize that Amara is going to kill you when she figures out what you're up to, right?

**Starlily11:** I've never been scared of Amara. If I were scared of her, I wouldn't make her such a softie in my stories.

**Amara: **(from behind me) You do realize I'm standing right behind you, right?

**Starlily11:** Shriek! (backs away)

**Serena:** Save me from the psycho author!

"I'm _screwed_," Serena mumbled. It was her first day at her new school. What she'd seen of the school was reassuringly small, but the fact that she would see no familiar faces was enough to send a jolt of fear running through her. Besides that, she felt weak in the knees…she'd been feeling like that ever since she woke up this morning. The blonde stared out the window of her dad's car. She pulled out her cell phone and sent a text message to Seiya. She missed him already.

"Serena, are you okay?" Sammy asked.

Serena answered him. After all, it wasn't like it was her brother's fault she'd been uprooted and taken away from everything that meant anything to her. "Yeah. Just a little nervous. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The two lapsed into silence again.

"Serena?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think school will be like?"

"I think you'll be fine. Me? I'll survive…barely."

"You miss Seiya, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. It's kind of scary, not having him around. He always made me feel safe. Without him, I feel…vulnerable. Like a protective wall has been torn down."

"Wow…that's deep. For you, anyway."

"Can it."

"So, you think the teachers will make us stand up and talk about ourselves?"

"God, I hope not!"

"Me, too."

"If I _do _have to say something, however, I've got a speech planned."

"What will you say?"

"I'll say; 'My name's Serena Tsukino, and I'm from Seattle. My jailers/parents dragged me all the way across the country because my dad got a promotion. I'm over that. Can I sit down now?'"

"Serena, that's enough," Mr. Tsukino said firmly from the driver's seat.

Serena refused to acknowledge her father's existence in any way, shape, or form. Sammy sighed. Something told him that this was going to be a long car ride. Mr. Tsukino just looked annoyed. His daughter's behavior was getting on his nerves. Serena wasn't usually this obstinate, and she had never held on to her anger for this long before.

They arrived at the school. Serena grabbed her backpack and purse, then sulkily headed into the school, ignoring the stares she was receiving. She knew perfectly well what they were thinking. It was obvious; she was the new girl, and that meant people would be staring at her all day. She might as well get used to it. Of course, another cause could be her outfit.

Serena, being a drama queen, had chosen to declare her displeasure at being forced to change schools through dress this morning. She had opted to wear a pair of torn black jeans and a black T-shirt with a skull and cross-bones on it. She'd ditched her customary pigtails and let her hair flow down her back in a wild, untamed manner. She knew that she was going to get written up as trouble, but she didn't care. Calmly, she walked to the main office with an air of proud defiance.

The blonde emerged from the office fifteen minutes later with her schedule. Still holding her head high, she walked through the halls exuding a confidence she didn't truly feel, and ignored the awestruck stares of everyone around her. Finally, she found her first class. She opened the door and walked in.

The teacher was in the middle of a lecture. Serena didn't interrupt; simply stood calmly in the corner and waited patiently to be noticed. As she stood there, she regarded the teacher with a critical eye. He was a man in his early forties, possibly late thirties. He was overly enthusiastic in his lectures and too wordy by half. The blonde resisted the urge to sigh. The man was trying to be interesting, but failing miserably. In fact, his over-done enthusiasm made him all the more dull. This was clearly _not_ going to end well.

As he paused for breath, a girl with red hair and brown eyes with freckles raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Woods?" the teacher asked.

"Mr. Smith, the new girl's here."

"Oh!" Mr. Smith turned to face Serena. "Miss…Tsukino, is it?"

"Yeah, but you can just call me Serena. The whole formality thing with 'Miss' and all that you can just ditch with me. I know my last name's a pain to pronounce." Serena forced herself to smile. She might as well make this easier on herself.

"Well, welcome to American Literature…Serena. You can sit next to Miss Woods."

"Thank you, Mr. Smith." She flashed another smile at him and sat down next to the redhead.

The redhead smiled at her and said, "My name's Renee."

Serena felt a real smile form on her lips at the girl's friendliness. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad, after all. "You probably heard, but my name's Serena," she replied.

"I heard. So, where're you from?"

"Seattle."

"Whoa…that's like, on the other side of the country!"

"I know. My dad got a promotion, so we had to move."

"How do you like Wisconsin so far?"

"Up until recently, I've been miserable," Serena admitted. "I've been pretty unreasonable, not giving this place a chance."

"I understand. It must've been tough, leaving all your friends behind."

"Yeah…" Serena thought about Seiya, and felt lighter, unaware of the changes that were taking place on her face.

Renee watched with awe at the way Serena's face changed when her friends were mentioned. When the blonde had entered, she'd held a look of sheer, bold defiance and wildness. With Mr. Smith, she'd been respectful but informal with a wild streak. She seemed friendly enough; Renee had liked her as soon as she'd seen her. But now, when the subject of old friends came up, it was as though walls had been torn down. The blonde's face softened, and a sweet, tender smile formed on her lips, and her eyes seemed to sparkle.

"You left someone special, didn't you?" Renee spoke softly, not wanting to break the spell. The transformation that had come over the blonde was amazing; she didn't want to ruin it.

Serena's eyes saddened. "Yeah, I did. His name was Seiya…"

"Ladies, please. Focus on the lecture," Mr. Smith admonished.

The two girls acknowledged him and paid attention for the rest of the period. Once class was over, however, they went back to their discussion.

"So, what's Seiya like?" Renee asked.

"He's sweet and loving, always good to me…and hot beyond all reckoning. Heck, he probably would have come here with me if I'd let him!"

"Why didn't you?"

"He's got two brothers, and where one is, the other two are usually there, too. Besides, my two best friends are dating them, and it would be cruel to split up two couples just because I don't want to be alone."

"Wow…I wish my boyfriend loved me that much…"

"He probably does, but he doesn't know how to show it," Serena told her gently.

"You're sweet, but no…he's got…cheating issues."

"I know the feeling. Before I met Seiya, I was dating a guy like that." Serena's eyes were sympathetic, but the light around her still hadn't gone out.

"What does Seiya look like?"

"He has gorgeous black hair and midnight blue eyes, with a great body."

"That sounds like the lead singer of the Three Lights."

Serena blushed, and said somewhat shyly, "Well, there's a reason for that…"

"You don't mean…"

"If we're on the same page, you know what I mean."

"You're dating _Seiya Kou_?"

"Yeah…don't tell anyone, though. I don't want to call that much attention to myself."

"My lips are sealed. That's so cool! What are Taiki and Yaten like?"

"Taiki's a genius, and he can be kind of cold and distant, but he's really nice. Yaten is pretty smart, too…when he wants to be. He can also be kind of a jerk at times, but he's got a good heart. He treats my friend Mina like a princess."

"You mentioned that some friends of yours were dating them."

"It's true. It kind of makes for some crazy dates, though."

"I bet. So, you make it sound like Seiya's your dream guy."

"He is. He treats me way better than my ex. It's like comparing night and day."

The bell rang.

"Crap! I'm late!" Serena yelped.

"What do you have next?"

"Um… Pre-Calculus with a Mrs. Collins."

"So do I! Warning; Collins is _pure evil. _If you want to survive, you're going to need to do some serious studying."

"Ugh…"

"I know, but I can help you if you'd like."

"Thanks! That would be great; I suck at math."

"I'm pretty good at it."

"Lucky!"

"Don't worry. When I'm through with you, you'll be a math genius."

"My friend Amy has tried that…"

"Trust me; I know what I'm saying. You want to get together after school so I can help you make sense of the homework?"

"Sure, but I'll have to call a friend of mine first. I promised, and if I don't call…"

"Something tells me this friend tends to be overprotective."

"Yeah, she can be, but she has a good reason. I'm a danger magnet. If something bad happens, it usually happens to me."

"That stinks. Yeah, I guess you'd better let your friend know you survived."

The two girls went to Pre-calc, and it was a lesson in pain that Serena would never forget. By the time the bell rang, all the blonde could see was numbers. Renee guided her to her next class and then they had to go their separate ways. The two agreed to meet at the front of the school after the last bell.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and before Serena knew it, it was time to meet Renee. The blonde found her new friend right where they had agreed to be, and they headed to Renee's house. Serena didn't bother to text her parents; as far she was concerned, they didn't exist. 'Maybe school won't suck so bad after all,' she thought.


	8. Act Seven

**Act Seven: Answers…and the Best Parental Freak-Out Ever**

**AN:** This should give us a better idea of what the heck is going on…

Serena called up the Outers and told them how the move was going (omitting mentions of the ghost and wolf and the general creepiness), listened to their instructions to exercise caution, et cetera, and then began to work on her Pre-Calculus homework. Renee's parents had been very welcoming, and they hadn't asked too many questions, much to the blonde's relief.

The homework was excruciatingly difficult; Serena felt like her head was going to explode within ten minutes. She tapped her pencil against the table in frustration. She briefly wished that she'd paid more attention in Algebra II, but then decided that it had been more productive to spend that class the way she'd chosen; staring at Seiya and imagining him in the summer without a shirt on. Oh, that was such a glorious image! Serena didn't realize that she was drooling until Renee's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Okay, I don't know what you're thinking about, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the homework!" the redhead grinned. "So, spill. We need to get your daydreams out of your system before we get serious."

"I was trying to decide whether or not the way I spent my time in Algebra II was productive."

"I'm guessing you didn't study…"

"Nope. I was imagining Seiya without a shirt on."

"Wow, dirty thoughts…cool! Did you ever try to picture him in the nude?"

"Well…"

"Don't worry, you can be honest. I won't judge."

"Yeah, I do. In my dreams."

"How vivid are the dreams?"

"High-def with surround sound."

"Awesome."

"Hey, let's get back to the homework. If we don't, my brain will get permanently stuck in the gutter."

"Good idea."

Renee began to carefully explain the problem Serena was working on. Surprisingly, it made some sort of sense by the time the redhead got through explaining it. It made more sense than the way Mrs. Collins explained it, anyway. The blonde thought that Renee ought to be teaching Pre-Calculus; Mrs. Collins was a terrible teacher. The woman was impatient, clearly hated kids, and her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Serena decided to think of her as the Dragon Lady.

By dinner time, Serena had managed to finish her Pre-Calc homework virtually unscathed, thanks to Renee. The blonde checked her cell phone. She'd had it turned off while she'd been doing her homework. She had six missed calls, all of them from her parents. The blonde almost laughed. Her parents were going to let her have it, but the beauty of it was that since she'd become an expert at the silent treatment, they'd give up quickly. A twinge of guilt stung her, but she shoved it aside. She had nothing to be sorry for.

Renee's father, Mr. Woods, offered to drive her home. It was dark outside, and Serena decided that it would be a good idea to accept. Renee came along, dying to have some more time with her new friend. The redhead realized that the blonde had a way of making everything feel right and peaceful. It was like she had her own internal sun that drew people in and gave them warmth. Serena made her feel completely accepted, and she felt like she could be herself around her.

"Where do you live, Serena?" Mr. Woods asked.

Serena gave the address, and it was like a raincloud descended over everyone in the car. Mr. Woods looked uneasy, and Renee kind of yelped.

"What is it?" Serena asked. Something told her that there was a story behind her house.

"You live in the haunted house," Renee piped up.

"It's haunted?" Serena felt uneasy. Maybe what she'd seen had actually been real.

"According to legend," Mr. Woods began, "A witch once resided in this town. She was very beautiful, but also pure evil. She had been living in the house that you currently live in longer than anyone could remember."

Serena felt her mouth go dry, and her heart started to pound. "And…what did she do?" she asked in a small voice.

"Being a witch, she was still technically mortal, so to preserve her beauty, she began to drain people of their life force. For the longest time, no one was brave enough to attempt to stop her. Part of this was her power, but mostly, it was the black wolf that she had constantly walking by her side. Supposedly, he used to be her warlock lover who had been cursed by another witch centuries ago. The wolf was savage, and feasted on anyone who dared enter the witch's domain."

The blonde felt terror setting in. "And?"

"Finally, one young man came forward and vowed to save the town from the evil. He stormed the house, armed with a dagger. He killed the wolf first, and then confronted the witch. It was a fierce battle, but no matter what the witch tried, she could not force him to keep his distance. In the end, the young man won, and plunged his dagger into her heart. Even so, her dark spirit still supposedly haunts her former residence, and her wolf still walks by her side."

"Wow…" Serena muttered. "No wonder the real estate agent gave us a deal."

"Have you seen anything?" Renee asked.

"No, I mean, yes…uh, no…well, yeah. I think so…"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Did the witch, like, have a room where she cast her spells?"

"According to the story, she concocted her darkest spells in the basement," Mr. Woods answered.

"Uh-oh…" Serena mumbled.

Renee's eyes widened. "Oh, my God…you sleep in the _basement_?"

"Yeah, and that's where I've seen the witch. I think she might be the reason I keep feeling a finger going down my back."

"Oh, God…"

"I know…do you know an exorcist who can do something about it?"

"No, but Dad might. Dad?"

"Sorry, I don't." Mr. Woods looked concerned.

"I'm going to be dead before the month's over," Serena whispered.

"No, you won't. Just try to avoid the basement," Renee said practically, even though she looked scared, too.

Serena resolved to start sleeping in the broom closet that night. They'd arrived at the house, and the blonde regarded the prospect of entering it with an inner shudder. "Thanks for the ride, Mr. Woods," she said sweetly, smiling in an attempt to show that she was no longer afraid.

"You're welcome, Serena." Mr. Woods returned her smile, waited until she was safely inside, and pulled out of the driveway.

†**§¥§¥§¥§¥†**

As they left, Mr. Woods looked at his daughter in the rearview mirror.

"Is she the girl from your dream?" he asked.

"Yes. Her light is brighter than I'd ever imagined."

"Is she the Moon Princess?"

"Yes…I feel it. I've got to protect her."

"You will. I have faith in you."

"Thanks, Dad."

†**†**

Serena entered her house with a new feeling of dread…and came face-to-face with her parents.

Mr. Tsukino was enraged. His face was red, and a vein was pulsing dangerously on his left temple. "SERENA ANNELIESE TSUKINO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

Serena stared over her father's shoulder, pretending he didn't exist. Mr. Tsukino grabbed his daughter's shoulders and shook her roughly.

"ANSWER ME, MISSY!"

Serena remained silent, a faint smile forming on her lips. Mrs. Tsukino slapped her. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough that it stung. The blonde started laughing. Sammy, who had come downstairs to see what was going on, looked at his sister with concern. Was she all right, or had the move caused her to go insane? Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino were worried now. Clearly, their daughter was having trouble adjusting.

Mrs. Tsukino's face softened. She took her daughter's hands and said, "Honey, let's not do this anymore. I'm sorry we had to move, but you aren't making this easy. We were so worried about you…please; just tell us where you were."

Serena decided to answer. "I made a new friend, and she was helping me with math."

Mrs. Tsukino smiled. "That's great, honey. But why didn't you call us?"

"I didn't think. Sorry I worried you," the blonde answered dully. She was thinking about the fact that her house was haunted and that she slept where the witch used to cast her spells.

"We forgive you…just don't do it again."

"Okay."

Mr. Tsukino lightly kissed her forehead and told her to get some dinner and go to bed.

Serena nodded and walked off, looking somewhat dazed.


	9. Act Eight

**Act Eight: A New Sailor Scout…and a Great Christmas Present**

**Serena:** I hate you.

**Starlily11:** Stuff it, Blondie!

**Seiya:** Hey, watch it! That's my girl you're being rude to.

**Starlily11:** Buzz off.

For the next few weeks, all seemed quiet in the new Tsukino residence. Serena continued to spend her afternoons at Renee's working on the latest Pre-Calculus brain fryer. She kept in touch with Seiya and her other friends, but said nothing about the stories she'd heard or the things she'd seen. Seiya had clearly mentioned that she might have seen something, because the Outers had asked about it. The blonde simply denied that she'd seen anything, and, so Seiya wouldn't get an earful, mentioned that her imagination had always been entirely too active. The others had accepted it with a little reluctance, but, as she never mentioned anything again, it was agreed that Serena had truly simply had an attack of the over-active imagination.

Unfortunately, that peace was not to last. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino decided to go have a date night, and Sammy was having an overnight at a new friend's house. Serena's parents had asked her repeatedly if she was okay staying home by herself. She'd given up the silent treatment; it had gotten boring. The blonde had replied that yes, she would be fine. If she got scared, she'd just call Seiya or something. That having been said, the girl was left alone. In the neighborhood's haunted house.

As soon as everyone was gone, the blonde felt the negativity grow heavy enough that it could easily crush her. However, she was determined to ignore it. She pulled out her I-pod, flopped down on her bed (her mom had caught her sleeping in the broom closet; wasn't pretty!), and began listening to her Evanescence playlist. _Breathe No More _and _My Immortal_ were her favorites. Sure, they weren't the happiest songs in the world, but they were beautiful in a dark, hauntingly lyrical way.

Somewhere in the middle of _Tourniquet_, the blonde saw the witch and her wolf emerge from the mirrored closet door. 'This bitch isn't going to get my life force!' the blonde thought. She leapt from the bed and raced to the kitchen, searching for some way to defend herself. She grabbed a butcher's knife and turned around. The witch was standing in front of her. Too late, the blonde realized that a knife wouldn't do much good against a ghost. She ripped her ear buds out of her ears and tossed her I-pod aside. Then, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Nice socks." As soon as that left her mouth, she thought, 'What the fuck? Why did I just say that?'

The witch looked down in confusion, and even the wolf was disconcerted. Serena made a run for it. She had to get out of the house! The blonde raced to the door, unlocked it, and ran. As she did, she realized she still had the knife clutched tightly in her hand. She threw it away, and before she knew it, she was at Renee's. At a loss as to what to do next, she shyly rang the doorbell. Mr. Woods answered.

"Serena! This is a surprise! Come in, come in."

Serena walked in, and then looked over her shoulder. Mr. Woods took in the girl's pale face and noticed how when she looked over her shoulder, it was like she expected someone to be there. So he decided to try and ease her mind.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Some water would be nice, thank you," the blonde answered shakily.

Mr. Woods brought her a glass of water, and she sipped it. Renee walked in.

"Hey, Ser! What's up?" the redhead chirped.

"Ghost," Serena mumbled.

Renee's face paled. "Did something happen?" she asked.

"Almost. I don't know what she was going to do, but I knew that I had to get out."

"Did she hurt your parents?"

"No. They weren't home."

"Is Sammy all right?"

"He wasn't home, either."

"Oh, that must have been so scary!"

"It was."

Renee knew then that it was time to tell Serena the truth. She took the blonde's hands and said, "Come on. Let's talk." Serena nodded and followed. Mr. Woods gave his daughter a questioning look. The redhead returned the look with one that said, 'She has to know.' The man nodded.

**Ѣ¥Ѣ¥Ѣ¥Ѣ¥Ѣ**

Once they were in Renee's room, and Serena was sitting comfortably on the bed, there was an awkward silence. Renee paced, unsure of how to begin.

Finally, the redhead said, "I guess it's time for me to come clean."

"Come clean? What do you mean?" the blonde asked.

"I know who you are, Princess Serenity."

Serena's eyes widened. "How…?"

"It's all right." Renee pulled out what looked like a transformation pen; it closely resembled the ones the Sailor Scouts had. There was a difference, though. Rather than a planetary symbol, it had an ornate engraving of the sun on it.

Serena closed her eyes briefly, and let the memories come to her. "You're Sailor Sun," she said at last. "You protected me when the other Scouts were called away."

"Yes, Princess. I was awakened a few months before you moved here. Queen Selenity knew that you would need someone to protect you."

"How do you fight a ghost? They're mist."

"The entity that haunts your house isn't so much a ghost as it is a demon."

"Uh-oh."

"The witch wants your energy, badly. Even in death, she still has immense power. Her current goal is to gain enough energy so that she can rejoin the living. And you have just what she needs."

"Lucky me," Serena muttered sarcastically. "Why hasn't she gotten enough yet?"

"Firstly; no one has ever stayed in that house longer than two weeks. Second; the Silver Crystal is extremely sensitive to witchcraft. If she tried to take more than a few drops or cause serious harm to you, it would send out a call that would have every Sailor Scout that is currently on this planet at your location within ten minutes.

"The problem is, even mere drops of your energy could be enough to power a nuclear plant for two years. Fortunately, she has to use so much power and energy to appear, it could take months or years for her to get enough power to do what she wants. Unfortunately, though, she has a bigger plan for you, and I honestly for the life of me cannot discern what it is."

"How can I stop her?"

"I made you a charm that can prevent her from stealing your energy, but I don't have enough power left to make three more. The witch would move on to steal the energy from your family members."

"What can I do?"

"The Silver Crystal's power is more or less unlimited. You could use it to banish her to the spirit realm permanently. I wouldn't do that, though, considering…"

"I know. But I can't just stand by and do nothing."

"I understand. Keep an eye out, and if something happens, call me with your mind, and I'll be there."

"Thanks, Renee."

Renee hander her a thin, golden chain. On the chain hung a gold charm in the shape of a rose. Serena could feel the protective spell radiating from it.

"Never take this off while you're in the house; you'll be vulnerable if you do," Renee warned.

"Thank you."

"I'll always be glad to help."

Serena hugged her friend, and Renee escorted her home.

**¥ѢжѢжѢжѢжѢ¥**

A couple more months passed without incident, and Christmas break rolled around. That was when Serena's parents gave their children the best gift of the season.

"Kids, how would you feel about going back to Seattle for a few days?" Mr. Tsukino asked on Christmas Day.

Serena gave a shriek of joy and pulled her parents into a massive, breath-stealing hug. Sammy whooped and joined his sister.

"I take it that's a yes," Mrs. Tsukino told her husband with a smile.

"When can we leave?" Serena asked eagerly.

"Tomorrow. I've already made the arrangements," her father told her.

Serena squealed and hugged him again. Then, she ran down to the basement and called Seiya.

"Seiya, guess what?" she squealed.

"What is it, Odango?" Seiya asked.

"I'm coming back to Seattle for a few days, and I'm leaving tomorrow!"

Seiya stared at the phone for a minute, not believing what he was hearing. Finally, it sank in. He let out a whoop. "What time will you be here?" he asked.

"DAD? WHAT TIME WILL WE GET THERE?" Serena yelled.

Her dad answered, "IF WE'RE LUCKY, ABOUT SIX O'CLOCK THE NEXT EVENING!"

"Six o'clock the next evening."

"What airport?"

"Seattle Tacoma International."

"I'll be there. We all will."

"Great. I can't wait to see you…all of you."

Seiya hung up a few minutes later, grinning broadly. He turned to Taiki and Yaten.

"Was that Serena?" Taiki inquired.

"Yeah," Seiya answered. "She's going to be here in two days for a visit."

"Oh, good!" Yaten said happily. "I get a break from shopping with Mina. Ever since Serena left, I've been stuck being her shopping buddy. I love her, but I am _really_ sick of helping her pick out shoes, dresses, and every other thing under the sun!"

Taiki smiled and said, "I'm glad she's coming back, too, Seiya. This means that Amy can stop worrying for a while. She's been so worried about Serena that I'm starting to worry about her. Besides, it's been depressing without her around."

"I second that," Yaten yelled from the bathroom.

"So, who wants to endure Mina's ear-splitting shrieks of joy and tell the girls?" Seiya asked.

"Not it!" Yaten yelled.

Taiki backed away and gave the lame excuse that he had homework. Seiya sighed picked up the phone, and began dialing.

**AN: **This was late, so I tried to make a bunch of stuff happen.


	10. Act Nine

**Act Nine: The Departure, the Trip, the Arrival, and 'The Look'**

**Serena: **Wait, first you try to kill me, and now you're giving me protection?

**Starlily11:** If I killed you off in the tenth chapter, I wouldn't have a story now, would I?

**Serena: **Please don't kill me, Your Author-ness.

**Starlily11: **We'll see.

As soon as Serena had confirmed that she wasn't dreaming and called Seiya, she began to throw everything she could possibly need into a suitcase. Basically, she packed everything but the kitchen sink. The blonde thanked her lucky stars that one of her aunts had given her a luggage set that consisted of three suitcases, two carry-on bags, two make-up bags, and three toiletries bags. She found out quickly that it was necessary for her to use every part of the luggage set. Her mom had raised an eyebrow, but she hadn't attempted to rein her daughter in; after all, Serena's mom had packed even more stuff than her daughter. However, Sammy and his father had managed to fit everything into one large duffel bag between the two of them.

As Ken Tsukino hauled his wife and daughter's luggage out to the car, he cursed his wife's sister for giving those two luggage sets. Thanks to that, there was no way they'd be able to get unpacked before the end of a week. He also wondered why he hadn't tried to teach the two women in his life to travel light. After several more minutes of grunting, sweating, cursing, and growling, everything was in the car…and there was still just enough room for the driver and his three passengers.

Serena grinned as they finally left the driveway. She got a break from the constant strain of having a witch in her midst, and she got to see her friends and the love of her life again. Impulsively, the blonde unbuckled her seatbelt, rolled down the window the whole way, stuck her head out, and blew a raspberry at the house, which was fading in the distance. When she pulled her head back in, her mom and her brother were giving her 'you're strange' looks, but she simply flashed a grin at them. Ken Tsukino continued to drive, oblivious to his daughter's odd behavior.

The family reached the airport in record time; Ken had expected ridiculous amounts of luggage from the women and planned for it. They went through customs and security, and finally were allowed to board the plane. Serena's grin got even wider when she realized that they had seats in first-class. 'This is going to be so cool,' she thought, and shared a smile with Sammy, who was just as excited.

The trip was surprisingly dull; Serena ended up falling asleep within the next ten minutes, and she slept until dinner time, when her mom woke her up to ask what she wanted to eat. The blonde grunted out what she wanted and went back to sleep. Sammy played games on his PlayStation Portable, Ken read a book, and Ilene went through the numerous mental lists to make sure they had everything. The only times Serena had to wake up and stay awake were when they had to change planes; otherwise, she slept the whole way.

Finally, they landed at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Serena slept through the announcement, but Sammy heard, and he put away his electronic device. Ken put his book aside, and Ilene shook her daughter gently.

"Come on, Serena. It's time to wake up. We're here."

Serena moaned, but didn't open her eyes.

"Sweetie, we're in Seattle."

"Uuuunnnhh…"

"Don't you want to get off the plane?"

"I'm sleepy…"

"Fine, if you don't want to see Seiya, I'll just tell him you decided to stay in Wisconsin."

Serena bolted upright. "Don't do that!" she cried.

"Okay. Let's get off the plane, then."

"Okay!" Serena said cheerfully.

The blonde followed her parents and Sammy off of the plane, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she went. Outside the gate stood everyone she'd been missing since she left. Serena squealed and soon the Outers, Inners, and Starlights found themselves wrapped in a suffocating hug. "I've missed you guys so much!" she declared. "You guys have no idea how much I've missed you."

Seiya grinned and wrapped the hyper blonde in a gentle hug, and then the two (you guessed it!) kissed.

Then, once the romantic moment was over, everyone got their own individual hug, courtesy of Serena.

Sammy interrupted. "Come _on_, Serena! We still need to get our stuff!" he grumbled. "If we don't hurry up, we'll still be trying to get your luggage next week!"

"Sammy, I didn't pack _that_ much!" Serena retorted.

"Yeah, right!"

Serena smiled at her friends and said, "You heard the boy, ah, man! Guess I've got to get my stuff."

"We're coming, too!" Mina insisted.

Serena grinned and said, "All right. But first you have to promise that you won't tease me when we get there."

"Why would we tease you, Odango?" Seiya asked, confused.

"You'll see," the blonde replied with a sly smile.

Suddenly nervous, the group followed the petite blonde to the luggage carousel, where the rest of the Tsukino family awaited them. Three suitcases went careening onto the carousel. They were exactly the same. Sammy checked the tags.

"Serena, these three suitcases are yours," he announced.

Yaten turned and looked at Serena. "How long are you going to be here, again?" he asked.

"Just a few days, but I had to bring every outfit I own just in case I change my mind about what to wear," Serena answered innocently.

Yaten rolled his eyes. Mina, however, said, "Smart move, Serena! You can't afford to be unable to find the right outfit because you under-packed!"

Three make-up bags came around. Sammy handed them to his sister, and she placed them on the cart with her mom's stuff. Then, the two toiletries bags came around, which received the same treatment. At this point, the boys and Amara were rolling their eyes. Mina was defending Serena, and the others were just laughing.

Serena turned puppy-dog eyes to her dad. "Daddy?" she asked sweetly.

Ken looked down at his daughter and smiled at her innocent expression. "Yes, honey?"

"Can I go hang out with my friends and meet you at the hotel later?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

Serena hugged her father and whispered, "You're the best!" Then, she departed with her friends.

Ilene raised an eyebrow at her husband. "You do realize that you've been tricked into letting her out of a day of unpacking, right?" she asked.

"Of course, but what was I supposed to do? She gave me 'The Look.'"

Ilene nodded in understanding. 'The Look' was infamous in their household. 'The Look' was Serena's most powerful weapon. It could calm down a raging Ken and stop a furious Ilene in her tracks. Not even Serena's friends were immune to 'The Look'. 'The Look' could stop Amara in her tracks any day, and it was what could have convinced Trista to stop time if Serena wanted it. 'The Look' was the one thing that could convince anyone to do something for Serena that they wouldn't otherwise do. Mina had once joked that if Serena had used that look on Chaos, they all would have been spared an extremely difficult battle. Oh, yes… 'The Look' was impossible to resist.


	11. Act Ten

**Act Ten: YOU DID WHAT?**

**Serena: **You have a seriously screwed up sense of humor, you know that?

**Starlily11:** Of course I do. I'm so aware of that fact that I'm helping to start a club called the Insane Writers' Association!

**Serena:** Oh, God! Someone save me from this psycho!

**Starlily11:** Ignore her. She has no sense of fun. Any-hoo, on with the show!

Serena left the airport with her friends. Mina was pumping her for every detail. The Moon Princess gave as much information as possible, leaving out the stuff about ghosts and new Sailor Scouts. Amy asked her how Pre-Calculus was coming, and Serena told her about how Renee had been helping her hold on to her sanity in that area. Seiya wanted to know if she thought she'd seen any more ghosts. The blonde somehow managed to keep a straight face as she answered that it was all good.

Unfortunately, secrets like that have a nasty tendency to rise from the ashes and give you a hard, painful bite on the ass that qualifies as a reality check. This particular bite on the ass came in the form of Hotaru, who had done some research on Augusta, Wisconsin and come across the witch legend. The little girl asked if Serena had heard it, and…well, I'm guessing you know what happened next. Serena answered casually, but she blurted out some facts that she had meant to keep hidden.

"Sure, I've heard that legend. That witch used to live in the place I'm in now. She may be dead, but she's still a ginormous pain in the…oops." Serena stopped mid-phrase.

"You mean you've seen her ghost?" Hotaru asked, wide-eyed.

Everyone else was giving her looks that said, 'You said you didn't see any ghosts!' The blonde did a mental sweat drop.

"I-in a manner of speaking," Serena finally answered.

Hotaru gave her a knowing look. "Princess, that is hardly an answer."

"Okay, I might have seen her..."the blonde admitted.

"And?" Mina asked.

"And she's a psycho-path…and I met a new Sailor Scout…" Serena covered her mouth. The other shoe had just dropped.

"You WHAT?" Amara shouted.

"I met a new Sailor Scout."

"Which one?" Trista asked interestedly.

"Uh…Sailor Sun, I think. Yeah, it was Sailor Sun."

Luna, Artemis, and Trista all got odd looks on their faces.

"What is it?"Michelle asked.

"If Sailor Sun's been awakened, that can only mean one thing…" Trista murmured.

"What?" Hotaru asked.

"It means that our Princess is in danger, and we have been unaware of it. Sailor Sun is only awakened when our Princess is threatened and we are unaware of it."

Serena barely blinked. Sailor Sun had told her as much, only in different words. She knew she was in danger, and she knew what threatened her. Seiya wrapped an arm around her protectively. The blonde looked up at the raven-haired boy. He looked frightened. Everyone did.

Luna wondered, "What could be threatening her now? Beryl is gone, Nehellenia is gone, the Dark Moon Clan is gone, Chaos is banished; it makes no sense." The cat paced fretfully.

Artemis circled the group, thoughtful. Then, he turned to Serena. "Serena, did Sailor Sun say anything about what was threatening you?" he asked.

Serena answered, "Yeah…sort of…"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

"Well, you know the story about the witch? Her ghost is still around. And she's strong enough that she could cause me some serious harm. She can't do much, though."

"What makes you think that? You're not invincible!" Amara told her worriedly.

"Apparently, the Silver Crystal is extremely sensitive to witchcraft. If she tried to use her powers to seriously hurt me or take much of my energy, the Silver Crystal would send up a flare that would, according to Sailor Sun, have every Sailor Scout on this planet at my location within minutes."

Artemis nodded."She's right. But the witch's presence alone wouldn't be enough to make it necessary for Sailor Sun to be awakened. Anything else?"

"She thinks that the witch might have some diabolical plan to do more than take my energy…she hasn't figured out what the plan is yet."

"Have you met the enemy?" Luna asked.

Serena looked down guiltily. "I thought I was hallucinating the first few times," she replied. "She would appear on my closet door—I know it sounds like a bad horror movie, Mina!—and just stare at me. She'd have this huge black wolf with her. I thought it was just my imagination."

"What happened?" Amara asked.

"Well, I was home alone one night, and she leaves my closet door. I freaked out and ran upstairs. I grabbed a knife, because I temporarily forgot that you can't exactly stab a ghost, and she followed me, because when I turned around, she appeared in front of me. So, I said 'Nice socks' and ran to Renee's house. That was when I found out she was Sailor Sun and what the witch was up to."

"Wait… you did WHAT?"Luna yelped.

"I went to Renee's," Serena replied.

"No, before that!"

"I said, 'Nice socks', and ran."

Yaten gave Serena an odd look. "Nice socks?" he asked.

"It was the first thing that popped into my head."

"Let me get this straight; you were face-to-face with the ghost of a witch that could easily kill you, and you said '_Nice socks_'?" Rae shrieked. "Are you _suicidal_?"

"Hey, it worked. She looked down, and I ran."

"Why 'Nice socks'?" Mina wondered. "Were you checking out the enemy's clothing tastes again?"

"No…I'd been reading 'Unwind' by Neil Shusterman, and one of the characters said that to distract the people he was fighting."

"You _read a book_?" Mina gasped.

"I was bored. I'd been giving Mom and Dad the silent treatment, and I couldn't find my I-pod."

"Can we _please_ get back to the point of this conversation?" Amara snapped impatiently. "Our Princess is in danger. Her energy's being stolen!"

"Not anymore," Serena said calmly. She pulled the protective charm out of her shirt. "This protects me."

Luna sniffed it. "Yes, that's Sailor Sun's power, all right. Yes, this would be effective. Why didn't you mention this when you were speaking to us on the phone?"

"One; I thought I was going crazy. Two; I had no idea about the energy thing until Sailor Sun explained it. Three; I wanted to have solid proof before I went scaring everyone."

Luna sighed. Serena had several good points there. Her reasoning was sound, and it was clear she'd thought it through. Seiya continued to hold on tightly to Serena.

"Were there any signs before you moved in that something was wrong?" Rae asked.

"Well, the air inside was oppressive, and it still is; especially in my room," Serena answered.

"Anything else?"

"Well, I touched the back of the house for a minute, and I got scared for no reason. It was, like, I touched the wall and _BOOM!_ I'm scared."

"Weird."

"Yeah."

"You mentioned that the air in your room is oppressive?"

"Yeah…it's in the basement, and apparently, that was where the witch used to cast her spells."

Luna yowled. "Serena, you need to get out of that room! If you're in a witch's former spell-casting chamber, there's no telling what might happen!"

"Try telling my parents that. I tried to move into a closet or something, but they won't let me."

"This is _not_ good," Rae muttered darkly. "Serena, you need to promise you'll be extremely careful."

"I have been. I never remove this," she pulled out the charm again. "And I don't go down there unless strictly necessary."

"Good. But call if anything happens. I know Sailor Sun's around, but…you never know."

"I plan to."

The rest of the time they chattered light-heartedly, but the fear and concern still hovered in the back of all their minds.


	12. Act Eleven

**Act Eleven: Behind the Mirror**

**AN:** Sorry I took an eternity to update…school's started up again, and that means more Algebra and more Spanish III...wish me luck!

Meanwhile, back in the old house in Wisconsin, evil began to rear its ugly head, and the ancient witch paced anxiously in her shadowy realm that lay between reality and the land of dreams. The black wolf, her most faithful companion, watched her steadily, unblinkingly. The witch gnashed her teeth and uttered expletives that would have had the darkest soul in the world shuddering in fear. The wolf seemed unperturbed; he merely watched his mistress calmly while she fretted over how miserably her plan was failing.

"I cann_ot believe_ that I was outwitted by a child!" she raged. "I allowed myself to be distracted by a mere comment. Oh, Maximus, what is this state I'm coming to?"

The wolf yawned, blinked a few times, and just stared at her with those golden eyes of his. He made no answer.

"Of course…I forgot. You are unable to speak to me. We have Selene to thank for that. You harm one of her daughters, and she traps you in the form of a beast for all eternity. And when I tried to convince her to be lenient, she abandoned me."

The wolf regarded her calmly, his eyes never leaving her face. His face, had it been human, would have been thoughtful. As he was a beast, however, that was impossible. Beasts do not show emotion; beasts do not think. They attack.

"Fear not, my love. Even though I cannot take her energy or harm her, we shall have our revenge. All that I need to do is find a way to force her to remove that protective charm she wears, and hand over the Silver Crystal. Then, I shall take her energy and restore my strength. And your natural form will be restored. We shall have our revenge; the last of Selene's descendants will die, and then, we shall be together until the end of time."

The wolf howled, and the witch laughed. "Soon, Selene, I shall have the last laugh. What will you do then? You are lost to time, and still I remain," she whispered.

A low groan sounded from the shadows. The witch lit a candle and turned, raising it. A young man in ragged clothing, covered with bruises, was chained to the wall.

"Hush, boy!" she snapped. "You may have killed me, but you are in _my _power! I may be dead, but my power remains strong. You are a mere mortal. You cannot defeat me."

"But _she_ can," the boy whispered. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be as terrified as you are right now."

"HUSH!" the witch slapped him, and her nails scratched his face, drawing blood. "That girl might have the Silver Crystal, but she is weak! She is nowhere near strong enough to wield the power that that crystal holds. She is only a child; she can do nothing to me!"

"Then why take it from her?"

"That crystal is the only thing that can restore Maximus to his true form."

"Good luck with that, _bitch_."

The wolf lunged for the boy, growling. The boy laughed. "It's about time he showed some pride, though I guess he doesn't have much. He's stayed with _you_," he sneered.

"Leave him, Maximus. He is a mere boy. He does not know what he speaks of."

"I might have been trapped in a realm behind a mirror for centuries, but my wits are still in working order. However, I think _you_ might, just _might_, have a screw loose."

The witch shot him a glare. "Do you ever _stop talking_?" she hissed.

"I have a right to amuse myself. It keeps me sane. At least I don't spend my days talking to a wolf."

"He is a _man_!"

"He _used to be_."

"He still is!"

"I doubt it. Centuries…millennia, actually…in a wolf's body probably leaves traces."

"HUSH! YOU KNOW NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL!"

"If I'm supposedly so clueless, then why are you standing around arguing with me? Why do you listen to me?"

The witch glared at him, and muttered something under her breath. The chains around him tightened, and the boy grimaced as they constricted, the metal cutting into his skin. He could still breathe, but he was extremely uncomfortable. He'd gotten used to discomfort, but this was taking it to a new level. If he didn't breathe carefully, he could die.

"So you see, boy…I would tread carefully. I am not someone you want to anger."

"I figured that out a long time ago. The problem is that I have nothing better to do, so I choose to spend my days in the only way possible; I speak truths that you have no desire to hear."

"You speak no truths; you speak from sheer ignorance."

"That may be, but I don't pursue a goal that is impossible to achieve. Mark my words, witch; as long as the Silver Crystal exists, you shall never hold it in your hands. It belongs to the Moon."


	13. Act Twelve

**Act Twelve: Confrontation**

**Starlily11: **I'm home sick today, so I decided to do something productive.

**Mom:** You call writing fan-fiction productive?

**Starlily11:** Mama, I already e-mailed my math teacher and told her I'd miss class. I'll do the homework she sends me, and I'll be fine.

**Mom:** Okay, honey…don't wear yourself out, okay?

**Starlily11: **Okay, Mom.

Serena enjoyed the rest of the time she had with her friends and Seiya before she had to go back to Wisconsin. Except for the initial burst of concern over the haunting of her house, things were pretty relaxed. Everyone was concerned, of course, but they'd all agreed that sitting around scaring themselves about what could happen was pointless.

The blonde sank into her seat and stared out of the window of the plane. She missed them already. Sure, when she was in danger, the only ones she could trust not to pull a mother hen routine were Taiki and Yaten, but, in a way, it was nice to know that so many people were watching out for you. In Wisconsin, she only had Renee. Renee was great, but there was only one of her. What if the witch suddenly got minions?

The girl sighed. She was being stupid. She needed to relax and stop letting her imagination run away with her. There was a witch haunting her house; so what? Nothing would happen to her. Sailor Sun had given her a charm that protected her from having her energy stolen, and the Silver Crystal would protect her if worst came to worst. She needed to trust in the Silver Crystal and Sailor Sun…and the rest of them. None of them would let anything bad happen to her.

Serena spent the trip back to Wisconsin turning thoughts over in her head. She had protection, but she couldn't afford to simply assume that anyone would get there in time to save her if something happened. She needed to make some precautionary plans that could get her out of a tight spot and help her buy some time while backup was coming. It was common sense…one could never assume that anything would play out the way it should.

**†****†****†****†****†**

As soon as Serena set foot inside of the house, she felt the changes that had taken place. The air had been oppressive before, but now it was almost suffocating. The aura of darkness that had only caused discomfort before now crashed down on her in waves, devastating in their strength. Even her parents and Sammy noticed the change. The blonde touched the protection charm Sailor Sun had given her. It relieved some of the tension, but not by much.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Sammy asked.

"It certainly seems darker, and the air feels heavier," Mrs. Tsukino observed.

Serena rolled her eyes. 'Holy cow, am I the only one who has a clue what's going on?' she wondered silently.

Mr. Tsukino noticed his daughter's reaction and asked, "Serena, do you have something you want to say?"

"Am I the only one in this house who isn't clueless to the point of being stupid?" Serena asked.

"I'm asking again; is there something you'd like to share?"

"Just saying; if you people were actually smart, you wouldn't be asking me."

"Serena, that's enough."

"Okay…okay…Haven't you ever wondered who owned this place before us?"

"It was abandoned, Serena. It had been for decades."

"And you didn't once stop and wonder why no one else bought it?"

Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino didn't answer. Now that their daughter had brought it up, it _was_ a little weird that no one had bought the place. It was a nice house; large, spacious, and on a beautiful lot. They looked at their daughter questioningly. She seemed to know more than they did when it came to the history of their new home.

"Honey, what have you heard?" Mrs. Tsukino asked gently.

"It's going to sound crazy, but it's a town legend. I heard it from Renee's dad. I convinced him to tell it to me because when I told him where we lived, he got a weird look on his face, and Renee said it was haunted."

"Haunted? That's ridiculous! There is nothing to suggest that this place is haunted!" Mr. Tsukino burst out.

"The whole town believes it…there might be some truth to it. Besides, Dad…don't you think it's strange that the atmosphere in this house is a little…suffocating?"

"It's because we've been gone for a few days," Mr. Tsukino insisted firmly. "I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense."

"I do," Sammy piped up. "I want to hear the legend."

"No, Sammy."Mr. Tsukino said.

"Come on, dear…what could be the harm?" Mrs. Tsukino asked. "I myself would like to hear it."

Mr. Tsukino sighed. "Fine. Serena, go ahead."

"Okay. I'll do my best to tell it the way Mr. Woods told it, but I have a different story-telling style than he does," Serena warned.

"That's fine, dear," Mrs. Tsukino replied.

"Okay. I'll just start at the beginning. Once, a long time ago, in this very house, lived a witch. This witch had been living here for as long as anyone with a natural memory could remember. Now, this witch was incredibly beautiful, like, _goddess_ beautiful. But she was also pure evil. She was apparently incredibly vain as well; to preserve her beauty, she began to slowly drain the life forces of the townspeople.

"No one dared to try and stop her, either; she had this wolf. It was black and huge, think, like, werewolves from _Twilight _huge. This wolf was rumored to be her warlock lover, cursed by another witch a long time ago. Anyway, the point is that the wolf would eat anyone who tried to harm his mistress. So people continued to die, and die, and die…"

"We get it," Mr. Tsukino grumbled. His wife and son shushed him.

"Anyway, people were dying left and right. But eventually, a young man stepped up to the plate. He vowed to save the town from the witch's evil, and he stormed the house armed with a dagger. He killed the wolf first, and then he confronted the b-ah, _witch_. It was a pretty nasty battle, but in the end, he won. Nothing the witch did could stop him. He killed her, and stopped the darkness. The thing is, her spirit still lingers, and her wolf continues to walk by her side."

Serena stopped there, and regarded her family calmly. Sammy was wide-eyed, and his mouth was open like a fish's. Her mom looked fascinated, and her dad was rolling his eyes. 'Go figure,' she thought. 'I tell him what's going on, and he's still a skeptic.'

"What happened to the boy?" Sammy asked.

'I don't know. I didn't ask. I kind of assumed he came back home and went on with his life."

"Ask Mr. Woods what happened to him," Mrs. Tsukino instructed. "I'd like to know how his story ended."

"Okay, I will when I see Renee again."

"This is ridiculous," Mr. Tsukino snorted. "All this nonsense about witched and whatnot…the people here are so superstitious."

"But, Dad, Sailor Moon exists, and she's got powers like a superhero in the comic books!" Sammy objected.

"Sailor Moon is a vigilante."

Serena snickered. "What about the Sailor Scouts and the Starlights?" she asked. "Are they vigilantes, too?"

"All those superhero types are. Sailor V, Sailor Moon…they're all vigilantes!"

"What makes them vigilantes?"

"They go around dressed the way they do, and they never let the cops handle it!"

"Most of the cops I've met are morons."

"Serena…"

"Just saying…"

"I know. Don't go saying that to an actual cop, though."

"What kind of an idiot do you think I am? Why would I do that?"

"With you, I never know what you'll do."

Serena rolled her eyes and went down into the basement. It was almost impossible to breathe. The blonde grabbed her phone and went back upstairs and into the bathroom. She turned on the sink and let the water run so her parents wouldn't hear her talking. Then, she called Seiya.

"What's up, Odango?"

"I told my parents that the house was haunted."

"How'd they react?"

"My mom thinks it's a good story, but I don't think she believes it. My dad thinks it's totally stupid, and Sammy…well, I don't know what he thinks. When my dad said it was nonsense, Sammy said that Sailor Moon was real and she had powers that only existed in comic books here in reality. My dad said…" Serena started laughing.

"What did he say?"

"He called us all vigilantes," Serena snickered.

Seiya stared at the phone for a minute, not believing what he'd just heard. Then, he started laughing. "That's ridiculous! Vigilantes attack people with baseball bats, and we don't _use_ baseball bats! Our attacks are way cooler than that!"

"I know, right?"

"What did you say?"

"I asked why."

"What was his answer?"

"He said it was because of the way we dress and the fact that we don't let the cops handle it."

"The cops wouldn't stand a chance against a Phage or any of the stuff we fight."

"I know. I answered that most of the cops I knew were morons."

"Some of them are, but most of them are okay."

"I know that…MARY, MOTHER OF GOD!" Serena almost dropped the phone. What was coming out of the faucet wasn't water…it was blood. "HOLY SHIT! THE APOCALYPSE IS STARTING!" the blonde screeched.

"What's happened, Odango?"

"Blood's coming out of the faucet! THE WORLD'S ENDING!"

"The world is _not ending_…wait…BLOOD'S COMING OUT OF THE FAUCET?"

At the sound of that, Yaten and Taiki both looked at Seiya like he was a lunatic.

"ODANGO, ARE YOU THERE?" he yelled.

"Yeah…Nothing, Mom…Just thought I saw something freaky…," Serena was saying. Her mother had heard the noise and wanted to make sure she was okay. Then, she turned her attention to Seiya. "Yeah, I'm here, Seiya…God, that was freaky…but it stopped as soon as Mom came in."

"Sounds like the witch is trying to tell you something…are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just freaked out. Seeing blood come out of a faucet does nothing for nerves."

"Odango, I'm worried. You're in over your head."

"I'll be fine. The Silver Crystal protects me."

"I know that, but what if something happens?"

"I'll get captured, you guys'll find out about it, you'll storm the house, and rescue me. That's how it usually happens. Except that I'm usually the one who does the storming and rescuing. I guess I get to be the damsel in distress this time."

"Please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt." Seiya was unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"I'll be fine, Seiya. This house just has my nerves totally frayed. I know you're scared…I'm scared, too…but we have to hang in there and hope for the best until we know more about what we're dealing with."

"Promise me that you'll call if anything happens. I can't protect you if I don't know you're in danger."

"I will, Seiya." Serena saw and felt a cold hand come over her mouth. She managed to get out an "Oh, _crap_!" before everything went black.


	14. Act Thirteen

**Act Thirteen: A Battle, Tardiness, and Overcompensation**

**Starlily11:** Hey, y'all! Sorry it's been so long, but you know how it is. School hands you a crap load of homework and you must obey like a mindless drone.

**Serena:** No kidding. And they never give snow days!

**Starlily11:** And it has me watching scenes from _The Exorcist_…shh, don't tell the parental units! Anyway, on with the show!

Serena woke up to find herself floating in midair in her basement. The blonde groaned and groped for her phone. She had to tell Seiya she was all right. Then, she remembered; blood had come spewing out of the faucet, and a hand had covered her mouth; she'd passed out or fainted or something. The girl looked around, momentarily dazed. The witch had her back to her, and was holding a book that looked frighteningly like it might have been bound in human skin. The blonde shuddered in revulsion at the thought. She groped for the protective charm around her neck.

Nothing was there. Serena felt fear set in. Her protection was gone, and she was in serious danger. She felt something sniffing at her hand. 'Oh, Selene, don't let the wolf eat me,' the girl prayed. 'Please, save me!' The blonde found that she was stranded in midair, and she had no idea how to get down, and worse; she couldn't even make a run for it without being noticed. The wolf whined to his mistress, and Serena resisted the urge to kick him. If she did that, she might lose a foot, or possibly an entire leg.

Even so, she couldn't stifle a whimper when the witch turned to face her, smiling wickedly. The blonde felt an almost irresistible urge to wet herself. Fortunately, she had enough sanity left in her to make her want to hold on to what little dignity she had left. She was floating in midair with a wolf below her. Said wolf was now sniffing her ass, for God's sake! She could at least control her bladder!

"Ah, so our guest has awakened," the witch smiled.

"Are you sure you don't mean prisoner?" the blonde inquired in a small voice.

"Prisoner is such a harsh word. You are perfectly free to move around."

"Yeah, and I have a wolf beneath me that's sniffing my ass and could easily gnaw me in half!"

"Maximus, get over here!" the witch snapped. The wolf obeyed. "Is that better?" she asked.

"Somewhat. Listen, you seem reasonable…how about you let me go, and I'll convince my parents to move us back to Seattle and you can continue to…ah, make your home here?"

"Oh, no! You have something I want, dearie, and I'm not letting you go before I get it."

"Really? What's that?" Serena asked. 'Please don't let it be what I think it is,' she thought.

"Your Silver Crystal, of course!"

'Damn!' "Uh, that's a problem, see, because I kind of…lost it."

"You and I both know that's not the truth. I feel its power burning within you as we speak. Hand it over."

"Why should I?" Serena asked boldly. 'Seiya, guys, you can come bursting in any time now!'

"Because if you don't, then your darling little brother will pay the price."

The witch waved a hand over the mirrors of the closet doors, and Sammy came through them, struggling against invisible bonds.

"Sammy!" Serena yelled. 'Oh, God, this is bad!'

"Hmm, I wonder if he would make a good toad?" the witch mused.

"Don't you touch him, you bitch!"

"Serena, what's going on?" Sammy asked. He was clearly scared. "Who's this lady, and why's she after you?"

That was it. "MOON ETERNAL! MAKE-UP!" Serena shouted. Screw the secret identity, she had to do something! In seconds, Eternal Sailor Moon stood there, glowering at the enemy. "How dare you terrorize an innocent boy and demand something that never has and never will belong to you? I won't stand for it! I am Sailor Moon, soldier of love and justice, and on behalf of the Moon, I'll punish you!"A faint pain on the back of her head entered her senses. 'Oh, shut it!' she thought. 'I've got better things to do than deal with a deity who doesn't like repetition!'

Sammy stared at his sister in awe. He had never seen this coming. His sister was Sailor Moon! Ditzy, klutzy, crybaby Serena was Sailor Moon! It didn't add up. The boy gawked at his sister, who was apparently a superhero. 'Maybe that's why she's always late,' he thought. 'It must be exhausting to be a superhero when you can barely walk across a solid, flat surface without falling flat on your face.'

The witch merely looked amused. "Very well, I'll play," she sighed. Then, she summoned her powers and aimed a blast at Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon dodged, and the blast left a burn mark on the wall. Sammy wondered why his parents hadn't heard the noise. They were inside, and this fight was pretty noisy.

"Careful! Are you trying to announce to the town that you're back from the dead?" Sailor Moon yelped.

"The only ones who are aware of what's going on are you, me, and your brother."

"Lovely." Sailor Moon aimed an attack of her own, but the witch blocked it.

"What the…?"

"I'm stronger than I seem, Princess Serenity."

"Yeah, but you're just a pile of bones."

"I won't be so forever. When I kill you, I shall live again, and Maximus shall regain his true form."

"Uh, yeah…good luck with that."

"Brave words coming from a Princess whose guardians are nowhere to be seen."

"I can fight my own battles."

"Only when you have no other choice. You prefer to hide behind your protectors."

Sammy was totally confused by now. His sister was Sailor Moon, and she was also a princess? What was the deal? And who would name their kid Serenity? The boy looked from his sister to the witch and scratched his head. He was clearly missing something.

"Wanna bet?" Sailor Moon asked. She ran for the witch and aimed a kick. The wolf lunged and closed his teeth around her booted leg. The blonde summoned the Tier and aimed. This blast took the witch by surprise and hit. The witch screamed and fled to her world behind the mirror. The wolf followed.

Serena then turned to Sammy, standing bravely on both legs. One had bite marks from the wolf's powerful jaws. "You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he answered. "You're Sailor Moon?"

"Yeah."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"No." The blonde knelt down next to him and looked him in the eyes. "Forget," she murmured.

Sammy felt sleepiness set in, and he struggled to remain awake. He failed, and collapsed. Serena powered down, caught him as he fell, and carried him upstairs to his room. She put him on his bed and tucked the blankets around him gently, then limped back down to the basement. Her leg hurt a lot. As she was rubbing it, the Starlights, the Outers, the Inners, and Sailor Sun all burst into the room.

"Where's the enemy?" Sailor Sun asked.

"Gone. For the moment," Serena answered.

"You mean we _missed it_?" Sailor Star Healer demanded.

"Uh-huh," Serena shifted her hurt leg, wincing when bolts of pain went shooting up it.

"What happened?" Star Fighter asked, kneeling next to her.

"I fought, and won…but I got bitten," the blonde grimaced.

Sailor Saturn knelt down and peered at the injured leg. "The wolf bit you?"

"Yeah."

The younger girl pressed a hand over the wounds, and the hand glowed with a silvery violet light. The pain increased briefly, then diminished. When she moved her hand, the bite was healed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, wait…you fought the enemy by yourself?" Uranus asked.

"Uh-huh, but I sure haven't seen the last of her. She'll be back."

"Sorry we were late. We couldn't find the place."

"I figured it was something like that."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little tired, but fine. Ye gods, that was close! It was pure luck that I managed to get a blast in. The first time, she _blocked _it."

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not. She _blocked _me. I just got in a lucky shot."

Sailor Pluto looked nervous. They all did. The thought that they hadn't been there when Serena most needed backup scared all of them. Fighter shuddered as she imagined what could have happened to her Odango. Uranus shivered as she realized how close she had come to losing her Princess, and that they'd been late. Maker was concerned that this new enemy had blocked Serena's power. Serena had defeated Chaos; but her power had barely been able to stop this new enemy.

"This isn't good," Sailor Sun fretted. "The enemy is more powerful than I thought. Thank goodness the protection charm held!"

"Actually, I think that got destroyed. Before, when I was talking to Seiya, I got knocked out and I had it on. When I came to, it was gone."

Sailor Sun paled. "That shouldn't be possible," she murmured. "Only the powers of the Moon should be able to do that…"

"It isn't safe for you here anymore, Serena. We need to get you out of here," Mars stated.

"How exactly can we do that? I have school, and how would I explain it to my parents?"

Mars was silent.

"I don't like this," Uranus muttered. "I don't like this at all. Our Princess is in danger, and we can't even get her out of here."

"Well, I could use the Silver Crystal…" Serena began.

"No!" everyone shouted.

"It's too dangerous," Mercury stated firmly.

"Well, we obviously have to do something! It's not like we can set up guards in here or something!"

Uranus' eyes flashed with a thought at that. "Maybe we can," she said.

'Oh, no, I should have kept my mouth shut!' the blonde thought.

**§†§†§†§†§†§**

Serena barely managed to stifle a sigh as she woke up from a doze and saw that Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn were still surrounding her bed. She understood that she was in danger, but this was ridiculous! It was nice to know that she was safe if anything happened, but the fact that guards surrounded her bed made her feel more than just a little awkward. What if she talked in her sleep? What if she snored? Oh, God…what if she had a dream about Seiya in the nude and said something embarrassing? The blonde blushed. It was going to be a long night.


	15. Act Fourteen

**Act Fourteen: Lost Knowledge**

**AN: **This will be italicized because it's told in legend format.

_Long ago, in the time when the mists of Avalon were still known to Men, when the old gods were still respected, feared, and worshipped among mortals, a goddess bearing the name of Nyx ruled the night. Nyx was beautiful, with shining hair darker than the blackest night, and eyes that were as silver as the Moon that served as her chariot. She was married to Thanatos, the ruler of the pit of lost souls. Together, the two deities had a daughter, whose name was Serenata. Her name meant 'evening song.' _

_For the longest time, Nyx was the queen of the night, and Thanatos ruled his shadowy realm. However, in time, the Titans rose against the old gods, and a bloody, long war began. Thanatos abandoned his wife and child, and fled to the darkest reaches of Tartarus. Nevertherless, he was captured and killed. Nyx tried to reason with the Titans, but to no avail. Kronos struck the goddess down with his sickle, and Serenata watched helplessly, terrified. She regarded the one who had killed her parents with fear and horror, and waited for him to kill her as well._

_Fortunately, Selene intervened at that precise moment. Kronos smiled upon the fair-haired goddess, and Selene asked that Serenata be spared. The Titan lord agreed. In the end, the various realms of the old gods were divided, and Selene was given dominion over the night. Selene was kind to Serenata, and did her best to make amends for what the young goddess had suffered. For a time, Serenata was content. When Selene married a mortal and gave birth to fifty daughters, Serenata joined them in their lessons and their games. All was well._

_Then, a young demigod going by the name of Maximus arrived in Selene's court. He was devastatingly handsome, and Serenata and Selene's daughters all pined for him. However, his heart was as black and cold as a stone. He was a son of Eris, the goddess of discord. The Titans had fallen long ago, and Zeus' reign had begun. Now, the Olympians ruled. _

_Maximus had come to Selene's court with one mission only; to destroy the gods. He felt that they had too much power, and it was time for the reign of Men to begin. Selene was Zeus' most loyal supporter, and if she should fall, Zeus would be vulnerable. The way to destroy Selene was through her daughters. One night, the man slipped into the youngest daughter's bedchamber and slit her throat. As the girl had inherited her father's mortality, she died._

_One can imagine Selene's agony. The goddess of the moon wept, and could not be consoled. However, she was also strong. The goddess finally dried her tears, and set about finding out who had done this to her beloved daughter. She asked her sister Eos if she had seen anything. Eos had seen nothing. She asked Apollo, the god of the sun. He had seen nothing. She asked the stars. They knew nothing. Finally, she turned to Demeter._

_Demeter was sympathetic to Selene's plight, having lost sight of her daughter Persephone. It hurt her every fall to watch her beautiful daughter descend to the Underworld. When she had heard about the tragedy that had occurred in Selene's court, she had begun searching for information regarding who had committed such a heinous crime. After much searching, she had turned to Persephone and asked if she knew anything._

_Persephone adored her mother and assisted her whenever she could. She had searched her husband Hades' kingdom for the spirit of Selene's lost daughter, and she had found her. The daughter had seen the face of her killer, and named him. Persephone reported her findings to her mother, and Demeter in turn reported them to Selene._

_When Selene learned that Maximus was responsible for slaying her daughter, her rage was beyond measure. She summoned him before her, and asked him what he'd done. Maximus turned pale, and could not speak, for he had never dreamed that the goddess would learn of his deed. His silence condemned him. Serenata watched from the shadows._

_Selene's first impulse was to put him to death. However, she knew that her daughter would not have wanted that, and she herself was tired of the endless bloodshed that surrounded everything. Therefore, she showed some mercy, and condemned Maximus to eternity as a beast. He would be doomed to walk the earth for all eternity, living for centuries until he was slain._

_Serenata had fallen madly in love with Maximus, and she was horrified at the punishment inflicted upon him. Sobbing, she begged Selene to reconsider, and asked her to be more lenient. Selene understood how the girl felt, but she also knew that Maximus had to be made to pay for his crimes. She gently refused, and told Serenata that it was necessary that she forget him._

_At those words, Serenata flew into a passion. She declared that she would never love any man but Maximus, despite the horrible crime that he had committed. She threw herself at Selene's feet and pleaded for Maximus to be restored to his human form. It was all to no avail. Selene could not forgive the man who had killed her daughter. When she saw that Serenata could not be swayed from her belief in Maximus, she sadly banished her. She could not risk losing another child. There was no telling what Serenata would be capable of while Maximus held her heart._

_Serenata left Selene's court and joined her love. Her rage at what had been done to Maximus and at Selene for what she perceived as abandonment poisoned her heart, and she swore that she would avenge herself on the goddess if it was the last thing she did. She traveled to Egypt and learned the black arts of that nation, and then to the abode of the sorceress Medea, and learned all she could. Centuries passed, and finally, Serenata struck. She hunted down the descendants of Selene one by one and killed them. She killed all but one. That one was one she never found._

_Now, she had gone so deep into the darkness that she had to keep to darkness if she did not wish to enter the dreaded void of death. She drained the energy of innocents without a care. She had turned her back on kindness and light long ago. Nothing could recall her to the light. _

_Serenata eventually settled down in what is currently known as Augusta, Wisconsin, where she was greatly feared. This place was also where her life ended. A boy named Adam watched the people of his hometown die, and he began to search for a way to save them. He could find no one who knew what to do._

_Finally, Selene came to him. She had been watching Serenata for some time, and had decided that enough was enough. She was reluctant to harm the girl who had been like one of her own daughters, but something had to be done. She had tried to protect her daughters, but Serenata's powers had become far too great for her to do anything about it alone, and Zeus was too busy with other things to intervene. _

_However, the goddess of the moon did know what to do. She went to her last remaining descendant and asked to borrow the Silver Crystal. That alone was what could stop Serenata. Unfortunately, no one could wield its great power without sacrificing their lives in the process. Not even Selene could use it without sinking into a coma for several centuries. Nevertheless, she chose to risk it, and used the power of the Silver Crystal to enchant a dagger, giving it the strength to destroy Serenata._

_Selene gave this dagger to Adam, and Adam used it well. He first slew Maximus, and then stabbed Serenata in the heart. Unfortunately, Serenata still retained enough power to avoid sinking into death completely, and to hold on to Maximus' presence as well. She used the power remaining to rob Adam of his dagger and trap him in her shadow realm with her. Thus, using his energy, she sustained herself and Maximus, waiting for the day she could free herself. _


	16. Act Fifteen

**Act Fifteen: Nightmare**

**AN: **Geez, one would think the teachers would lay off a little when it's freezing cold outside, but no! They dump homework on you in truckloads!

Serena forced herself to ignore the fact that the Outers were now standing guard around her bed and closed her eyes, praying that she wouldn't snore or say something embarrassing in her sleep. Sleep came slowly, but it eventually fell upon her, cloaking her in peaceful darkness. The blonde was carried into the world of dreams, where one could never predict what would happen. In that in-between world, messages could be delivered and received, and premonitions ran amok.

At first, Serena's dreams were merely strange. For example, in one dream, there were evil cats that, to get rid of them, one had to jump in the air and do pirouette while in midair. In another, the dentist said to eat a coffeecake with every meal to prevent cavities and gingivitis. In one particularly disturbing dream, the blonde discovered that she was pregnant and she had no idea who the father was. The blonde slept on, and wandered through the world of dreams into a candlelit room that greatly resembled a dungeon.

In this dark room, a young man was chained to a wall, with an all-too familiar figure pacing in front of him, looking all the more sinister by candlelight. The blonde kept to the shadows, fearful of being seen. Instinct screamed at her to keep silent and still. She only dared to take the softest of breaths. Part of her knew that this was a mere dream, but that part was overshadowed by an unnamable fear. As the witch passed her, the blonde became still as a statue. The wolf that walked by the woman's side sniffed the air, and the blonde feared she was done for. Fortunately, the wolf seemed to shrug it off, and passed her by.

"Soon, Maximus," the witch crooned. "Soon you will be free. Soon, I will take the Silver Crystal, and the Moon Princess' heart."

Serena gulped and placed her hands over her chest.

The boy on the wall snorted. "How exactly do you plan to do that? She has guards surrounding her every minute now. They sense it when she's in danger."

"Indeed, but if they are eliminated, who will protect her then?"

"Evil never wins in the end; you know that."

"I am not the evil one. The gods are the evil ones. They killed my parents, and Selene killed me. And they've destroyed Maximus."

"Selene killed you because you tried to destroy her," the boy pointed out calmly. "If you hadn't done that, you would have been a lot happier."

"Her kind wronged me first. They slew my mother right before my eyes, and would have killed me."

"Selene saved you, though."

"But then she banished me!"

"Because you fell in love with a madman."

Serena scratched her head. She hadn't heard this part of the story; she decided to ask Pluto about it. She watched the exchange with interest, remaining motionless and silent.

Maximus whined at his mistress and lightly pawed at her skirts.

"Oh, do we have a guest?" the witch asked.

Serena backed away in fear. The witch had her by the shoulders.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't the Moon Princess herself! I must say, this is a surprise!"

Serena opened her mouth and closed it. Her throat was dry.

"Speak."

The blonde shook her head frantically.

"Don't be shy."

"Crap," the blonde squeaked.

"Not very articulate, are you?"

"Not particularly." The blonde's voice was so high that it could rival Alvin and the Chipmunks.

"Clearly you're planning to make this easy…a pity. I was hoping for more of a challenge."

The blonde thought quickly, and then she shouted the last two words anyone in her situation would think to say; "WASHINGTON, D.C.!"

As her enemy's eyes narrowed in confusion, the blonde turned and ran like hell through several long, dark hallways until she came to a wooden door. She threw it open…and ended up right back where she'd started. Serena observed her surroundings with no small amount of horror.

"It's no use running. In the end, I'll always catch up to you."

"You don't say!" The girl turned and ran again…and ended up right back there.

"This is becoming tiresome."

"Says you!" The girl fled, this time promising herself she wouldn't stop. That plan ended when she slammed into a wall. When she stood up, she was in the witch's chamber…again.

"I tire of this game," the witch stated.

"Who's playing games? Are they playing Monopoly? Serena quipped weakly. "I wanna be the banker!"

"No one is playing games, you silly child!"

"You said someone was playing games! I want to know who!" the blonde cried, and stamped her foot. If she could keep the witch distracted, maybe her friends would come rescue her.

The witch now had a knife, and was sharpening it. Serena found herself chained to a table, and her friends and Seiya lay in a heap nearby. The boy she'd seen earlier was nowhere. None of them appeared to be breathing. The blonde screamed in terror, and struggled uselessly against her bonds. "LET ME GO!" she screamed. She continued to struggle. "Seiya, wake up!" she wailed. "Amara, Michelle, Trista! Wake up! Guys, please!"

The witch laughed and said, "Your friends are dead, but fear not; you'll be joining them shortly." She continued to sharpen the knife, and the sound only fueled the blonde's terror. The wolf was howling in triumph, and Serena looked desperately at Seiya. What she saw horrified her and caused her the most torturous pain imaginable.

The dark-haired boy's eyes were open and lifeless. His once shining blue eyes stared at her unseeingly, and that was when she knew that no matter how loudly she screamed, he would never awake. The blonde sobbed now, both in terror and grief. She looked at her friends; it was the same. None of them would be able to save her now. As this knowledge set in, she let out a wail that was bordering on animalistic. It was one of sheer grief and fear.

The sound only momentarily startled the witch. After the initial pause, time continued to move forward, and the witch stood over the blonde. Tears stained the girl's cheeks as she finally gave up her futile struggles. The witch raised the knife. The knife descended, and Serena screamed.

The blonde woke up sobbing, gasping, and screaming bloody murder. Uranus had her by the shoulders and was trying to calm her down. Serena, not fully awake, struggled frantically.

"Serena, wake up! You're safe. You're _safe_…calm down," the older girl soothed.

The cerulean-eyed blonde dissolved into tears and clung to Uranus, who looked at Neptune, unsure of how to handle her. Neptune sat next to the sobbing blonde and rubbed her back in a soothing motion. Pluto was watching the scene with a certain amount of worry. When nightmares plagued her Princess, it was never a good sign. It usually meant that one or more deaths would occur.

Eventually, the blonde calmed down, and was able to form a coherent sentence.

"Are you all right, Kitten? That sounded like a pretty terrifying dream," Uranus asked.

"It was," the blonde whimpered. "How loud was I?"

"At first, you were just whimpering. I tried to wake you, but you sleep like a log. Then, you started screaming. You kept telling us to wake up."

"You guys were all just lying there, and you weren't moving…" the blonde shuddered, and Uranus put an arm around her.

"It was just a dream, Kitten," she said softly.

"The chains on my wrists felt real," the younger girl whispered.

"Chains?"

"I was in this room, and the witch was there, and she was going on and on about how she needed the Silver Crystal to turn the wolf back into a man, and I was hiding in the shadows. She started talking about how once she had the Silver Crystal, she was going to…to…"

"What was she going to do, Princess?" Saturn asked.

"She was going to tear my heart out. And she almost did."

Pluto turned white, and Uranus tightened her hold on Serena. Neptune gasped and moved protectively in front of the petite blonde. Saturn tensed, and scanned the shadows.

"I tried to run, but I kept ending up right back where I started, and I was suddenly chained to this table, and she was standing over me with a knife…"

"It was just a dream, Kitten," Uranus murmured. She tried not to let Serena see that she was scared. What the petite blonde was talking about was too horrible to contemplate. Serena was too innocent to have something like that happen to her…yet she'd dreamt it. This wasn't good. The wind soldier exchanged a look with Neptune. Both agreed that their Princess' dream could not possibly be dismissed as a mere dream, despite their assurances to her that it was just so. This did not bode well.


	17. Act Sixteen

**Act Sixteen: Why Moms are Clueless/The Auction**

**AN:** I've been re-reading this whole story, and I've realized that it's been all doom and gloom for a while, so I am going to write a chapter that once again proves that Serena's parents are clueless beyond all human belief.

Serena came upstairs for breakfast in the morning with dark circles under her eyes. Last night's dream had terrified her, and she hadn't been able to really sleep for the rest of the night. Her Senshi had tried to calm her fears, but she knew that they were as frightened as she was. She wished they wouldn't treat her like a child; they always tried to hold up a brave front so that she wouldn't get too scared. The blonde appreciated it, but she wished that they would give her a little more credit. A day would come when she'd have to stand on her own. How could she survive that day if no one gave her the chance to prepare for that?

Those were the thoughts that traveled slowly through the girl's mind as she sat down and began to eat some pancakes her mom had made. She noticed that Sammy and her father were looking at her with pitying looks. Had they heard her screaming last night?

"Oh, good, Serena! You woke up on time!" her mother beamed.

"Yeah…I did. Just like I have been every day."

"Oh, yes; of course."

"So, what's going on?"

"Well, you know that I've joined the one of the town committees."

"Yeah…?"

"Well, this committee is in charge of an auction that helps raise money for the library. This auction is special. A few girls in the town wear their prettiest dresses and stand in front of the population of the town, and the men who pay the most money get a date with the girls. One of the girls had to drop out."

Serena didn't like where this was going, but she decided to make absolutely certain that her mother wasn't about to say what she _thought_ she was about to say. "And?"

"I said that I had a beautiful daughter who would be delighted to help raise money for the library. You're going to be one of those girls."

The blonde stared at her mother in sheer horror. Surely she wasn't so clueless that she didn't realize her daughter had a boyfriend! "What?" she asked blankly.

"I volunteered you to help raise money for the library. You'll get to wear a lovely dress and date a handsome young bachelor…"

"Mom! I have a _boyfriend_! I'm not going to cheat on Seiya!"

"You won't be cheating on Seiya. You'll be aiding a good cause."

"I'll be going out with another guy! That's cheating on Seiya!"

"It's just one date, honey. Besides, I was hoping that you might be able to make some friends. The other girls are very nice."

"Dad! Help me out here!" the blonde turned and looked at her father pleadingly.

Mr. Tsukino looked sympathetic, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that her mother had won this argument. "I'm sorry, honey. Your mother insists," he said.

Serena growled in frustration and threw down her napkin, then stormed back down to the basement, muttering about meddling mothers and useless fathers. After that, she added a paragraph about brothers who couldn't be bothered to help their sisters. She slammed the door shut, and then turned to Pluto. The time soldier appeared bewildered at the blonde's sudden change of mood.

"Pluto, zap me into a time warp and don't bring me back until May." It wasn't a request; it was an order.

"Why, Princess?"

"My mom's trying to ruin my life."

"How is your mother trying to ruin your life?"

"She's auctioning me off."

Pluto looked alarmed. "She's involved in human trafficking?"

"No. Have you ever heard of those things where guys buy dates with girls?"

"Yes."

"Mom wants me to be a part of that kind of auction. It's to raise money for the library."

"Oh. Seiya won't like that."

"I know! But Mom doesn't see that!"

"Just what we need…more problems…"

"Yeah…is it bad that I'm starting to think that I'd rather get chained to a table and have my heart sliced out by an evil witch than have a guy buy a date with me?"

"Please don't say things you don't mean."

"I know, I know…Man, I wish I could find a way out!"

"We'll think of something," the time soldier promised.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Thanks."

_жѢжѢжѢжѢж_

True to her word, Pluto did indeed set about looking for a way to help her Princess. She explained the problem to the other Outers, and then they decided to let the Inners and the Starlights in on it. Amara was completely sympathetic; she found the concept of auctioning off dates degrading to the female sex. Michelle kept quiet, though she felt the same way. Mina seemed to think it sounded like fun; what girl wouldn't want guys having a bidding war over her? That earned her a glare from Yaten. Rae suggested that maybe Serena's idea about going into a time warp was the best idea, which earned her a lengthy lecture from Trista about the dangers of messing with time and space and the duty of a Senshi to her Princess. Amy suggested that perhaps they could brainwash Serena's mom into forgetting the whole idea, which earned her a lecture from Michelle about morals and ethics. Lita had the wackiest idea; have Serena take a bus back to Seattle and she could hide out there until the auction was over. That idea was vetoed immediately because it would never work. Taiki and Seiya were whispering in a corner, clearly having a discussion. They wouldn't divulge what they'd discussed; merely stated that Serena would not be forced to feel like she was cheating on Seiya. They promised they would fill everyone else in once they'd formed the master plan.

Serena wandered through the hallways at school, wondering why her mother hated her so much. She was so distracted that she walked directly into a wall as she entered Mr. Smith's class. The man looked at her oddly, but he seemed to realize that something was wrong, because he didn't deign to ask her a question that class period. Renee looked at her worriedly, and the blonde mouthed, 'I'll tell you after class.'

As soon as class was over, Renee swooped down. "Spill," she said.

"My mom volunteered me for this auction…"

"Oh, no! You don't mean you're one of those girls who's going to have guys buying a date with her?"

"That's exactly what I mean. I don't want to do it, but my mom's making me!"

"Didn't your dad say anything?"

"Mom's got him scared stiff. And where my dad goes, Sammy follows. Pluto is apparently going to find a way out of it for me, but I don't see what she's going to do about it."

"Yikes. Well, maybe they'll come up with something."

"I hope so! I don't _want _to be auctioned off to the highest bidder like a piece of antique furniture!"

"Or a prized calf."

"Oh, God…this gets worse and worse every time I think about it!" the blonde groaned.

"It'll be okay."

"Are you sure I can't just have you temporarily vaporize me or something?"

"I'm positive. Come on, we better get to class. The Dragon Lady will devour us if we're late."

Sighing, Serena followed her friend to Pre-Calculus.

When she got home that afternoon and retired to the basement, she found the Outers talking among themselves. When she walked in, they immediately stopped talking and looked at her soberly.

"I'm doomed, aren't I?" the blonde asked, and flopped down on her bed. Then, she aimed her stereo remote. Ke$ha's _Blah Blah Blah_ came blasting out of the speakers. Amara frowned at her, but the petite blonde ignored her. Michelle sighed; when Serena started listening to Ke$ha, it meant that she was nearing the end of her seemingly limitless tolerance. Trista covered Hotaru's ears as Ke$ha ordered a guy to shut up and show her where his dick was.

"Serena, rotting your brains out by listening to rap is not going to help," Amara told her sternly.

"I don't care," the younger girl whined. "I never had much of a brain to start with, anyway."

"Hey, don't go putting yourself down!"

"My life is over!"

"Don't be such a drama queen."

"Who's being dramatic?"

"Listen to me. We _will_ find a way to help you. Seiya and Taiki are working out a plan as we speak."

"Does it involve stopping the auction from happening?"

"I don't know…they haven't filled the rest of us in on it."

"I'm screwed."

"Watch your mouth." Amara turned off Ke$ha. "I don't know why you insist on listening to that."

"It temporarily shuts my brain off so I don't have to think."

"We'll help you through this, but you have to trust us."

"I _do _trust you."

"Then stop listening to that noise."

"Fine…" the blonde sighed, and turned off the stereo. The others sighed in relief.

†_ж__ж__ж__ж__ж__§†_

The weeks went by, and Seiya and Taiki never did reveal what they'd come up with. Whether this was because they were trying to earn style points or to torture the Outers by inadvertently causing Serena to listen to _Blah Blah Blah, _no one knew_._ However, they did inform everyone that Serena was no longer in danger of facing a moral dilemma, and promised that everything would be all right. No one knew what was going to happen; Amara just hoped it wasn't anything that could be considered dangerous. Right after she thought that, she mentally smacked herself. She knew in her logical mind that Seiya would never do anything that would endanger Serena.

Finally, the day of the auction drew near, and Serena was doing a remarkable impression of a stone column. Everyone tried their best to calm her down, but nothing worked. All the blonde could do was talk about how much she didn't want to do this and how she felt like she was cheating on Seiya. As long as she didn't know the plan, she was uneasy. They all were. Well…not _all_ of them…Mrs. Tsukino was walking on sunshine, positive that her daughter would cause a bidding war that would rival the Trojan War fought over Helen. The woman happily arranged her daughter's hair and applied makeup, and helped her into her dress. Serena looked like she was walking to the gallows.

"Smile, honey!"

The blonde forced herself to smile, even though she was practically wishing that Chaos had killed her so she wouldn't have to be here.

Eventually, she was ready, and even the depressed blonde had to admit that she looked like a goddess. Her long, flowing blonde hair had been allowed to cascade around her, a waterfall of gold. Her eyes were made to look shadowed and mysterious with silvery eye shadow, her long lashes brought out by mascara. Her mouth formed a sensual, sultry pout thanks to a careful application of lip color. But the dress was the crowning glory. It was of midnight blue silk, and it seemed to cloak its wearer in mystery and elegance. The blonde greatly resembled a goddess of the night.

With a quiet sigh, Serena took her place on the stage. She could feel the men's eyes turning to her, and the hormones of the teenage boys cranking up like mad. Five other girls stood with her. They all looked nervous. The blonde instinctively knew that she would be the last.

"Saving the best for last," her mother whispered excitedly. Serena barely managed to restrain herself from rolling her eyes, or worse; start sobbing hysterically.

One by one, the other girls were auctioned off. Then, it was Serena's turn. The blonde surveyed the crowd, hoping she would see the one face she wanted to see. It was a sea of faces, but not one of them was Seiya's. The girl lightly bit her lip, and her knees buckled. She placed her hands behind her back and dug her nails into her palms.

"Last, but most definitely not least, we have the lovely Serena Tsukino. This blonde beauty loves music and to have a good time. Who'll start the bid at twenty dollars?"

"Forty!" a man's voice shouted.

"Eighty!" another voice shouted.

Serena tried to take deep, calming breaths. She felt like she would faint any minute now.

"One hundred!"

"One hundred thirty!"

"One hundred fifty!"

Two men were really duking it out. And both of them were teenage perverts with a lot of money. The blonde wished someone would save her.

"Do I hear one hundred and fifty?" the auctioneer asked.

"One hundred eighty!"

The other boy went silent. Sadly, it was the less perverted one. Serena started to break a sweat.

"One hundred eighty, going once, going twice…"

"Two hundred!" another voice shouted out. To Serena, it was incredibly familiar, but it couldn't be who she thought it was.

"I have two hundred!" the auctioneer cried.

"Two hundred twenty!" the other man yelled.

"Two hundred sixty!" the one who sounded like Seiya called out. Serena wondered if she was hallucinating.

"Two hundred eighty!"

"Three hundred twenty!"

Serena almost fell over. God, that was a lot of money! The auctioneer lightly steadied her.

"Do I hear three hundred twenty?" she asked

"Three hundred eighty!" the other shouted out. He was starting to sound desperate.

"Four hundred fifty!" That was _definitely_ Seiya! No one else could be that incredibly reckless.

The other man remained silent. He was clearly beaten. Serena almost started singing Handel's_ Hallelujah Chorus_.

"Four hundred fifty! Going once, going twice…Sold! To the man in the back."

Serena walked down the steps to the stage to meet Seiya, her knight in shining armor. She almost collapsed, but he held her gently, and smiled down at her. Serena returned the smile.

"Sorry I was late," he whispered.

"I forgive you. You just save me from a pervert."

"I could tell he was a pervert. I could also tell that you were terrified. By the way, I heard the auctioneer telling your mother that they'd never had a girl raise that much money before."

"I almost fainted! How did you get that much?"

"I'm an idol, remember?"

"Yeah, I do."

Gently, Seiya kissed her, and Serena thought that maybe she'd endure it all again if it meant Seiya would save her again.


	18. Act Seventeen

**Act Seventeen: The Hidden Door**

**AN: **Finally they give me a snow day! I'm so excited!

After Serena's triumph at the auction she had so despised being a part of, it was time to get back to business. The blonde decided to do some digging and see if she couldn't learn something about where her new enemy hid out between appearances and/or confrontations. Her instincts told her that the actual ghost could only be found in a place between worlds, but if her dream was correct, whatever horrible thing that could come to pass was most likely to occur in this world. The question was, where? The blonde examined every square inch of the house, under pretense of helping her mother out with the housework. She came up blank.

Frustrated, the blonde turned on her stereo again that evening, but abstained from listening to Ke$ha. She'd tortured her poor Senshi enough. Therefore, she opted to listen to Heather Dale, of whom none of them had ever heard. The Outers sensed frustration in their Princess, but they chalked it up to stress because of this new enemy. They were all tense. The fact that Serena was a particular target had them all worried. Add her recurring nightmares to the mix, and it was a wonder nobody had gone insane yet.

Once she closed her eyes, Serena had another dream, except this time, she was outside in the woods behind her home. In the dream, it was broad daylight, and birds should have been singing, but nature was silent. The blonde walked among the trees, a strange force compelling her to go deeper and deeper into the wood. The further she went, the thicker the trees got, and the light of the sun grew dimmer. As it became pitch black, the force that urged her on stopped pushing, and she stumbled over a log and fell. The log moved.

Serena stood and looked down. The log had given way to her weight and rolled off to the side, revealing a small, narrow door. Or at least, it appeared to be a door. Considering the fact that it most likely led somewhere, it was safe to assume that it was a door. To what, the blonde had no idea. She noticed a handle on the door, and pulled at it. Whatever it was made of, it was unbelievably heavy. The blonde strained, and with much effort, got it to open. It led into darkness. There was no ladder. She would have to jump.

Even though it was a disgusting thing to do, the blonde spat delicately into the opening and watched. She didn't even see it make impact. Chances were, if she jumped, she would break every bone in her body. Nonetheless, it was necessary to find out what was down there. Wherever it led her, she could gain knowledge, which she desperately needed. She knew almost nothing about this new enemy; the smallest scrap of information could make all the difference. Serena took a deep breath, and let herself fall. She never touched the bottom, for she awoke to the sound of her alarm clock ringing.

_§†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†§_

Fortunately, it was a Saturday. Therefore, Serena did not need to concern herself with school or anything that could keep her from investigating her dream. Her instincts told her that what she'd seen while she slept was more than a dream. If that was so, she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She put on a grungy pair of jeans and a T-shirt she wouldn't have worn unless she planned to do menial labor, or, say, jump into a hole in the ground whilst having no idea how large a drop it would be. To complete the ensemble, she pulled on a pair of old tennis shoes she'd had stuffed in the back of her closet.

Once dressed, the blonde pulled her hair back into a sloppy ponytail and, after telling her parents she'd be out back, set off. She followed her dream's directions carefully. She turned her back on the house and headed into the woods, even though common sense usually dictated that that was the last thing you should do. Common sense didn't necessarily apply to her, though; whoever had written up the rules of common sense had never had to fight Chaos, train to be the queen of the world, and been told she was the reincarnated Princess of the Moon.

As the dream had foretold, the woods became deeper and ever more dark, and she eventually stumbled over a log and fell. Lo and behold; there was the door in her dream! Tentatively, she touched it. It was clearly some type of metal, and as she ran her fingers over it, she detected engravings on it. With her finger, she traced them. The blonde gasped as she realized what she was tracing. She was tracing the marks of the respective planets of her Senshi! And in the center of them all was an ornate etching of a crescent moon. Serena examined the door more closely with her eyes. Her finger had not lied to her; she could see what she had traced.

Now, she tugged at the handle and pulled the door open, sweating from the effort. Just as in the dream, she only saw darkness. Just for the sake of knowing if the results of spitting would be any different in reality, she spat into the dark pit below her. Just like in the dream, it seemed to go on forever. There was no denying it; this was it. She'd had a true waking dream. All she needed to do was make the jump. Briefly, she allowed herself to wonder how her Senshi would react if they knew what she was planning to do. Something told her that none of them would be pleased.

Gods, it was dark down there…the blonde took a few deep breaths. She needed to calm down. She couldn't afford to let her nerves cloud her mind. She would need to be alert if she wanted to make sure she could at least attempt to make the landing in one piece. Carefully, Serena slung her legs over the side of the opening, and pushed off. The next thing she knew, she was falling. Vaguely, the blonde wondered if there was such a thing as an accidental suicide.

The fall seemed to last forever, despite the fact that she knew she was probably falling at a speed of eighty miles per hour. However, eventually she did hit the bottom, and landed face first in the dirt. 'Gross,' she thought. 'That's probably going to be a bitch to wash off.' Serena pushed herself up with her hands and looked around. It was surprisingly light down here. As she took in her surroundings, she had to gasp in awe and wonder.

The chamber she had landed in was exquisite, despite the dirt floor. Amazing carvings adorned the walls, depicting the Olympian gods in all their splendor. Jewels were placed elegantly in the pictures. Diamonds adorned the diadem of Hera. Rubies carved into the shape of roses surrounded the goddess Persephone. What looked like gold formed Zeus' lightning bolt. The images on the walls had been painted as well; if Serena hadn't been brave enough to touch the walls, she would have thought that the likenesses surrounding her were real, living, breathing, people.

The chamber was also incredibly well-lit. The blonde looked around for the source of the light. She found it quickly. Torches burned brightly in silver holders on the walls all around her, their light positively brilliant; like the sun, it seemed. It was truly amazing. 'How could a place like this have never been found?' she wondered silently. As she looked around, her eyes fell on the likeness of Selene, her protector, and her mother goddess.

Selene's eyes seemed to gaze over her shoulder at something. Serena turned to find a bookstand with an ancient-looking book sitting on it. It was a sign, the blonde knew. She was meant to read the book and know its contents. The girl groaned as she realized that the book was dauntingly large, and appeared to be incredibly delicate. 'Any chance they could give me a condensed version?' she thought. There was no reply, but when she looked again at Selene, the goddess' eyes sparkled at her with what appeared to be laughter. Serena looked at Zeus' likeness. His face urged her to read it. With a resigned sigh, the girl picked up the book, walked over to a nearby desk and chair, and opened it up. It was written in Latin.

"Seriously?" the blonde groaned. She turned to her mother goddess "I can barely read English, and you expect me to be able to read Latin? You've got to be kidding!"

Selene seemed to stir on the wall, and she looked directly at Serena. "Look again, my child," she said softly.

Serena yelped and leaped up in fright. She stared at the likeness of her goddess. Selene's face was still, as were her lips. With a last glance, the blonde turned her eyes again to the book in front of her. It was now written in English, clear as crystal. The blonde's eyes widened in shock. Mere seconds ago, this tome had been written in a dead language. Now, it was written in English. It was a mystery as to how that had been done. Unless, of course, one remembered the obvious answer; magic.

The blonde pored over the tome and quickly lost track of time. This book contained a history of the gods since the beginning of time, but it mostly revolved around the story of a young goddess named Serenata. As she read, Serena came to realize that the goddess the tale spoke of had become her current enemy. The more she read, the more terrified she grew. Nevertheless, pity also stirred in her heart. What had become of her relatives was horrible, but Serenata's reasons were understandable. It was all in the name of what she believed to be love. It was a shame that even something so pure as love could become so tainted and dark, the girl mused. Besides, Serenata had suffered greatly at the hands of the gods. Her family had been killed right before her eyes! That was bound to mess anyone up, the blonde thought.

As she read the last page, time caught up to her with amazing speed. Her stomach growled at her, and she realized that her parents were probably worried sick. And worse, as far as she could see, there was no way to get back up to the surface. She was stuck down here. 'Well done, Serena! You've stupidly gone down a hole without a thought of how to get back and you've gotten yourself trapped! What are you going to do now? I'm going to freaking Disneyworld!' she scolded herself.

The blonde paced about the large chamber, unsure of what to do next. She was trapped, and she didn't know how to get out. She would probably die in here. Anxiety reared its head unpleasantly in the pit of her stomach. What was she going to do? How was she to escape? The girl wrung her hands in agitation.

As if Selene sensed her distress, the goddess on the wall seemed to point to the far right corner of the room. A silver staircase was there. Serena hastened towards it and ascended the stairway, wondering where it would take her. It seemed to go on forever, and the blonde wondered how long she would have to keep walking. She was tired and hungry, and completely at a loss as to what she should do with her newfound information. She came to a door at last, and pulled it open. Light streamed directly into her eyes. Wincing, she raised a hand to shield them…and found herself in the kitchen of her current "home".


	19. Act Eighteen

**Act Eighteen: The Tunnels, Part One**

Serena gasped as she realized that she had somehow gone from being underground to being in her kitchen. It seemed completely illogical. The blonde turned back the way she'd come. She'd somehow come out through the pantry. She walked back into it and looked around. She couldn't place how she'd gotten in. Carefully, the girl ran her hands over the walls, searching for some sign of a hidden door. Eventually, her fingers felt a hairsbreadth of a crack. She made note of the location of this wall and found a flashlight, then returned to investigate further.

With the light of the flashlight, she saw the faint outline of a door. But how was she to open it? It was clearly meant to be opened from the inside, and it was obviously the door she'd used to exit the magnificent underground chamber. Was there a way to open it from the outside? Curious, the blonde examined the hidden door closely. There was no way to open it without a crowbar or something like that. Unfortunately, Serena didn't own a crowbar, and she didn't know anyone who did. It was quite apparent that she'd have to use her brain, despite the fact that that was supposed to be Amy's occupation. Sadly, Amy wasn't here.

The blonde pushed at the door in an effort to move it. It didn't move even the smallest millimeter. She looked around the small, cramped space again, and noticed a crescent moon was carved on the wall to her right, in a place no one would really notice it. The carving had an imprint; something was supposed to be placed there. Serena peered at the brooch that held the Silver Crystal. She had a hunch, and chose to act on it. The girl took her brooch, and placed it into the center of the carving. The crescent moon glowed with white light, and the door opened.

Serena picked up her flashlight, and walked in. In front of her lay the path to the chamber she'd entered before, but on both sides of her, a tunnel led to another place. This was definitely something she had to investigate. However, she didn't want to be foolish. The blonde left the pantry and "borrowed" a bundle of her mother's embroidery silks. She unwound it and created a thread trail as she took the tunnel to the right, therefore ensuring that she could find her way back. Her Scout communicator beeped. The blonde stopped and answered it. It was Pluto.

"Serena, what are you doing?" the time soldier asked.

"What do you think I'm doing?" the blonde asked innocently. She wasn't going to divulge any information until the time soldier did.

"I think you're about to go wandering around hidden passages without taking someone with you."

"How did you know?" the blonde yelped.

"I'm the Guardian of Time, remember? The Time Gate lets me know when you're about to make a decision that could possibly endanger you."

"What was the Time Gate doing when I was wandering around the woods out back?" the younger girl asked slyly.

"You were _what_?"

"I found a very cool chamber with a very interesting book," Serena said.

"Serena, you need to be more cautious! Honestly, you have the ghost of a witch who's out for your blood, and you're wandering around in dark passageways that haven't been used for centuries?"

"Actually, she's not a witch. She's a goddess named Serenata who's pissed at Selene."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Book told me," the blonde replied. She kind of liked making the slightly uptight time soldier antsy. It reminded everyone that she wasn't just the Princess of the White Moon; she was also an irresponsible, reckless, risk-taking teenager with out-of-control hormones.

"Don't move. We'll be there shortly."

Serena grinned, walked back out of the pantry, and waited for the Outers to appear. This was fun; she should wander around haunted properties more often. The Outers were there two minutes later.

Uranus took one look at Serena and _flipped out_. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN _DOING_?" she demanded.

Serena cocked her head slightly, and examined herself in a nearby mirror. Oh, now she could see why Uranus was having a cow! The blonde noted that she looked dirty, and that she had somehow managed to tear her jeans and scratch her legs up. 'Probably from my trek through the woods,' the blonde thought. Finally, she answered, "Oh, nothing too crazy…just wandered around the woods out back, found a hidden door that had a drop of about sixty feet, jumped in, and found an ancient book. I found a way out, and was just about to explore some more passages I found in the pantry before Pluto called."

"What were you doing wandering around the woods?" Neptune inquired. "That's dangerous."

"I had a dream, so I decided to look around and see if it was real."

"I suppose it's safe to assume that you found something?" Pluto asked.

"Heck, yeah! Want to see?"

"As long as you promise not to go wandering off as soon as you get bored."

"I promise," the blonde chirped.

†_§†_

Two hours later, they were still wandering the tunnels, and Uranus was in a foul mood. They had been following the tunnel to the right for what seemed like forever, and it was looking like they were wasting their time. Uranus disliked wasting time, and she was also incredibly impatient. Not to mention that the darkness of the place made her somewhat uncomfortable. Yes, Uranus was definitely in an incredibly unpleasant mood. Therefore, even Serena kept her mouth shut. Anyone who crossed Uranus was either incredibly stupid or downright suicidal.

Fortunately, their walk came to an end shortly after those dark thoughts, because Serena, inching ahead to get a little further away from the annoyed Uranus, walked directly into a closed door. The petite blonde yelped and rubbed her nose, whimpering that she might have broken it. Saturn carefully examined it and assured her that it was merely bruised, nothing serious. A relieved Neptune shined the flashlight on the door, and a pentagram was etched on it.

Serena backed up. The sight of the pentagram unnerved her for a reason that she was unsure how to explain. It filled her with a sense of foreboding, and her instincts were telling her to get as far away as she could. She ignored the risk of getting snapped at by Uranus and sidled behind the tall wind soldier. Saturn apparently sensed something, too, because she, too, backed away from the door. Neptune noticed the reactions of the two, and wondered what horrors could be behind the door.

Uranus was clearly feeling impatient, because she snapped, "What are we waiting for? We came all this way; we're wasting time!" She pushed at the door, and it opened.

The effect was immediate; Serena felt the pent-up emotions of the poor souls who had been trapped there come rushing at her all at once. The fear, pain, rage, and unmatched terror crashed down on her like a tidal wave. It was so strong that it brought her to her knees, and images thrust their way into her mind. So many innocents had died in there, their life forces drained away. She could see them, eyes staring glassily up at her, faces frozen in terror, pleading with her to help them. It was heart-rending. Tears spilled from her eyes as she realized what true suffering was. Vaguely, she heard Uranus shout, and she felt someone lift her, but other than that, she saw nothing more as she descended into darkness.

_ж¥ж¥ж¥ж¥ж¥ж¥ж¥ж_

She woke up to the worried faces of Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn hovering over her. "Wh-what happened?" she asked.

"I forgot how sensitive you were to negative energy," Pluto explained. "I should have known something like this would happen when you backed away. The negative energy behind that door was overwhelming. You sensed it, and it hit you with a great amount of force. You fainted."

"Saturn sensed it, too. Is she all right?"

"She managed to bring up a shield quickly enough to block it from her, but she wasn't able to get to you fast enough."

"So all of that was negative energy?"

"Yes. The things that happened in that place were clearly done for a dark purpose."

"It felt like a tidal wave had crashed down on me…it was scary."

"You scared all of us when you passed out, Kitten," Uranus said quietly. "We thought we were going to lose you."

"It felt like I was dying. Gods, those poor people!"

"What…you sensed individuals?" Pluto asked.

"I saw everyone that died in there…I could feel what they felt…they were so scared…"

"We'd best avoid approaching that place again. You never know what could happen," Saturn stated. "Clearly, whatever is in there is incredibly dangerous. Especially to you, Princess."

Serena struggled to her feet. Nevertheless, she found herself leaning on Uranus for support. The negativity that had been so overwhelming had drained her strength.

"Earlier, you mentioned something about the witch," Pluto said. "You said she was a goddess."

"I found this ancient book in some huge room. It had a crescent moon and the planetary signs engraved on it."

"It seems like the carvings on the door are guides," Saturn observed. "The pentagram has often been associated with witchcraft; especially dark magic. The crescent moon represents Selene, most likely. The way we got in is an indication. It reacted to the Silver Crystal."

"Basically, it would be a good idea to avoid the pentagrams," Serena said.

"Exactly."

"You don't need to tell me twice!"

"Come on, we should get back. You need to rest," Neptune said. "We'll see where the other tunnel goes tomorrow, and then you can show us this book you keep talking about."

"All right."

**AN: **If you want to know where the other tunnel leads, I highly suggest that you review.


	20. Act Nineteen

**Act Nineteen: The Tunnels, Part Two**

The next day, Sunday, the Outers joined Serena in finding out where the left tunnel led. They were all reluctant to do so, considering Serena's strong reaction to the negativity behind the other door, but Serena made it impossible for them to refuse with 'The Look'. Pluto silently cursed the gods for giving her Princess that deadly gift. Thanks to 'The Look', one of these days, she might persuade them to let her do something truly dangerous, such as skydiving, or ticking off the Mafia. Fortunately, Serena rarely used that gift of hers. Mostly, that was because she usually got what she wanted anyway without having to employ 'The Look.'

They entered the passageway as they had the day before, but this time, they turned left. They walked for what seemed like an eternity. Serena was surprisingly quiet, lost in thought. No one had any idea what she could possibly be thinking about; the blonde's mind was such an obscure and abstract place that they had all given up trying to figure out how her mind worked long ago. Uranus was cautious and alert as always, and she kept a close eye on Serena to make sure she didn't wander off. Neptune was worrying about what would happen if something evil lurked behind this door as well. Saturn was coming up with a strategy so that she could guard Serena against any more negative energy, and Pluto was attempting to figure out if there was any way to grow immune to 'The Look.'

Eventually, they came upon the door, and this time, Serena did not crash into it. She saw it ahead of time and stopped. Neptune shined the flashlight on the door. There was no pentagram; only a crescent moon. It had an indentation, and Serena tried the Silver Crystal. Sure enough, the door opened. The petite blonde walked in, and Uranus started to follow, but she found that she couldn't get over the threshold. It was kind of a vampire effect, except that Uranus was certain that she was not a vampire, and she had a feeling that an invitation would not necessarily guarantee that she could follow her Princess.

Serena turned, and, upon seeing that Uranus was still standing in the doorway, called, "Come on!"

"I can't, Kitten," Uranus explained. "Something's blocking me."

"Huh." The petite blonde walked back to the doorway and examined it. She could see nothing that could prevent entry. Then, she notice strange symbols etched across the arch. It looked like it was Sumerian. "Pluto, can you read Sumerian?" she asked.

"No. Why?"

"Apparently, something's keeping Uranus from entering this room. I see some weird symbols, kind of like hieroglyphics, but they look ancient. I think they're Sumerian or something."

Pluto was curious, and she moved to the doorway. She couldn't enter, either. The other two tried as well, with the same result. It appeared that only Serena could enter. It was very strange, and it was unnerving for everyone involved. The Outers were worried. What if this was a trap of some kind, meant to cause Serena harm?

"It looks like I'm the only one who can go in," Serena observed.

"I don't like this, Kitten. This could be dangerous," Uranus worried.

"This room isn't that big. You could probably see the whole room from the doorway. Everything will be fine."

"The last time you said that, you almost died," Uranus warned.

"You'll be able to keep an eye on me from the doorway. I won't go far."

"Yes, but what if something attacks you? None of us will be able to get in and help you."

"I'll say something ridiculous and get out," the blonde replied calmly.

"That doesn't always work."

"Come on! Don't be such a worry-wart!"

"_Someone_ has to do the worrying."

Serena smiled mischievously and approached Uranus. "Between you and me, I think Pluto worries enough for all of us. Are you turning into Pluto?" she whispered.

Uranus couldn't help but chuckle. Pluto _did_ tend to worry overmuch. Being the Guardian of Time would probably make _anyone _paranoid. Saturn looked at her inquiringly, and Neptune mouthed, 'What did she say?' Pluto, however, had heard every word, and she glared at both of them. Uranus smiled apologetically, and Serena hugged the time soldier, smiling sweetly.

"Honestly, Pluto, you worry too much! Can't you just relax a little?" the petite blonde's tone was coaxing as she backed into the room again.

"Princess, if I relaxed, that would mean possible danger to you, and I would not see it coming. That means that you would be at risk. And having you being at risk is not something I can allow."

Serena sighed. "Whatever you say," she said airily, and walked back in, looking around. She made sure to stay within the Outers' sight, and tried to figure out what was in this chamber. The blonde discovered an ancient scroll that held an intensely ominous sounding poem, and she stared at it for a long time. The longer she stared at it, the more frightened she became. As she read it for the fiftieth time, she put it down with a certain amount of horror.

"I hope this isn't prophetic," she murmured.

"What does it say?" Neptune inquired.

Serena had memorized it, and she recited the following lines;

_Before the sun sets on the death of March,_

_Before the light consumes the dark,_

_And after the moonlight falls,_

_It will be left to the Unquiet Ones_

_To break the curse_

_And save us all._

_First, the stars will be locked away,_

_And then will fall the light of Day._

_Next, the inner guard shall fall,_

_And then, the outer guard will fade._

_Finally, the moonlight will be taken from the sky,_

_Her light extinguished, the moon will die._

_Darkness will come down upon us all,_

_But then, the Unquiet Ones will come,_

_And bring about the Evil's Fall._

_Finally, they shall rest in peace._

When she had finished, they were all stunned into silence. Anyone could tell what the scroll was saying. It had basically just prophesied their deaths. They all knew what the reference to the stars meant; it was referring to the Starlights. The bit about the sun, the inner guard, and outer guard was hard to miss, too. A fool could figure out what it meant. And of course, the reference to the moon was the most terrifying of all. If the prophecy of the scroll were to come true, it would mean that the Starlights were going to be imprisoned for all eternity, Sailor Sun would be next, then the Inners and Outers would be eliminated, and Serena would die alone and in pain. The part about the Unquiet Ones had all of them confused. Who were the Unquiet Ones? Apparently, they would defeat the enemy, but how?

Serena's face remained surprisingly calm, and her posture seemed completely relaxed. Despite her outward appearance, however, the blonde's heart was about to burst with pain. Her worst nightmares were coming true! She was going to lose her friends again, and Seiya was going to be locked away somewhere, probably some place horrible. She'd thought she'd known true agony when she'd watched her friends fall one by one at the hands of Chaos. But even then, she'd had the Starlights. Now, it looked like she would be truly alone. She didn't look any of the Outers in the eyes, and quietly suggested that they get out of here and get back to the house.

Uranus, however, was determined to know what they faced, and they returned the place where the passages began, and Serena led them to the magnificent chamber that contained the book. Silently, she handed it to the Outers, and retreated into a corner. She quickly became lost in her thoughts. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn began to read the book, and learned what Serena had learned. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant surprise to learn that they needed to try and fight a goddess; particularly if the prophecy was for real. Serena just sat silently, huddled in the corner, trying to calm her raging emotions. She was no longer a child, and she needed to stop behaving like one. This meant that she needed to get a handle on her emotions, and not give in to the urge to scream and wail about what was going to happen. She'd defied Fate before; she could do it again.

Eventually, the Outers finished reading, and they all went back to the house. Serena was silent the whole way, and she kept her head down. She was so distracted that Uranus had to pull her away from the wall to keep her from slamming into it at least five times within one minute. They were all disturbed by what the contents of the scroll had said, but it had seemed to strike a chord in Serena. The words resonated in her head, and no matter what she did, she could not put them out of her mind.


	21. Act Twenty

**Act Twenty: Where Do We Go From Here?**

**AN: **No, this is not based on a song from the musical episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_.

After the Outers and Serena finished learning what they needed to know about this newest enemy, they decided it was a good idea to call a meeting and figure out what to do. Serena didn't say much, as she was lost in her own thoughts. She concealed her unease and hidden worries behind smiles and ditzy behavior as she always did, and listened to what everyone else had to say. Renee was included, as she was a Sailor Scout, and this involved her as much as it did them. It was a slight shock when she realized that the Three Lights were also the Starlights, and she looked to Serena, who wore a look that said; 'You wouldn't have believed me even if I told you.'

Trista filled them in on what they'd discovered, and Serena caught a little more grief about being more cautious, etc, etc. She took it all in stride, of course. She knew perfectly well that they all just wanted her to be safe. She was aware that they were just worried about her and had her best interests at heart.

Mina groaned when Trista repeated the prophecy. "You mean we're all going to die _again_? Seriously? Good grief! First we die in the Silver Millennium and got reincarnated, then we all get killed fighting Queen Beryl, then, after that, we all get trapped in mirrors fighting Nehellenia, and last, but most definitely not least, we get flattened by Chaos and end up taking a temporary dirt nap! How many _more_ times are we going to die?"

Normally, such an outburst would have been funny, but in this situation, all it did was make things worse. Trista started in on her for not behaving like a proper guardian, Yaten got annoyed and basically told Trista to go take a hike, and Amara, Seiya, and Taiki had to work hard to prevent a brawl from breaking out. Rae suggested that Mina had a point, and that started a long discussion about whether or not they would do it again. The general consensus was yes; they would. Another discussion over the prophecy spawned from that. The only one who didn't join that discussion was Serena, who was oceans away, drowning in her own dark thoughts.

The petite, blonde Moon Princess feared for her Senshi, and was recalling the last time she'd lost them. Now, she also had to fear for the Starlights. All three of them had come to mean a great deal to her. She loved Seiya with everything she had. Her heart and soul belonged to him. Taiki and Yaten had become like older brothers to her. She didn't know what she'd do without Taiki's and Amy's seemingly endless, impossible to comprehend and yet reassuring intellectual discussions, or Yaten's pranks. The thought made her clutch her heart as if to stop the pangs that suddenly assailed her. She kept her blue eyes directed to the window, where she could see the trees and the beginnings of spring. The death of March…that meant the end of March. They were in the middle of March right now. The blonde kept her face neutral, but she knew that her neutral expression was probably beginning to look more and more frozen.

"…don't know. Serena, what do you think?" Amy's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you," the blonde said distractedly.

"What do you think about this prophecy?"

"Well, I think whatever's going to happen is going to happen at the end of this month."

"That would explain 'the death of March', but what do you personally make of it? Do you think it might come true?"

"Prophecies have a nasty habit of coming true, and if you somehow manage to avoid it, Fate has an unpleasant way of making sure you end up miserable anyway. Look at what happened to Oedipus. That wasn't even really the guy's fault. His parents tried to avoid the inevitable, and look what happened! Personally, I think that if you try to avoid your fate, you're basically guaranteeing that it'll come true."

Everyone else stared at the blonde. Serena had basically said they were all going to die, and that there was no point in fighting it. But in the same line of thought, she'd said that if they didn't try to avoid it, maybe they'd survive. Her statement was an advanced thought, and phrased with a surprising amount of eloquence, considering the speaker. It made all of them wonder exactly what went on inside that blonde head of hers.

"So you think it could actually happen?" Mina asked.

"I'm afraid it will. But I hope for a better outcome. Oh, great…I'm beginning to sound like Trista."

"I don't usually say that we should lie down and accept our fate and say that we might survive in the same sentence," Trista said, somewhat testily.

"Sorry…this whole thing has me feeling off," the blonde replied, truly apologetic.

"I think we're all worried," Lita stated. "But you seem to be even more worried than the rest of us, Serena. What's up?"

"Nothing! I'm just thinking about everything and wondering how we're going to get through this." The blonde's voice rose slightly in pitch, and her face flushed, revealing that she was lying through her teeth.

"You're blushing and your voice just got higher; that usually means you're stretching the truth at the very least," Amy stated. The look in the blue-haired girl's eyes was knowing. She knew Serena well enough that she could usually tell when the blonde was hiding something.

Serena remained silent, but she continued to keep her face almost void of emotion. She met the gaze of Sailor Sun, each of the Outers, and all of the Inners, one by one. In her eyes, they all read her message. It didn't take a genius to know that the petite blonde had been remembering that horrible battle with Chaos. Even the newly awakened Sailor Sun knew that the Moon Princess was more concerned than she let on. Finally, she locked eyes with the Starlights, and they, too, understood what she was thinking but would not say aloud; "_I don't want to watch you all die again_."

"It won't get that bad again," Amara stated firmly. "And even if it does, you'll still make it through. You did it last time, and you can do it again. Still, I don't think it'll get that bad."

"I only barely made it through last time," Serena said softly. "If Seiya, Taiki, and Yaten hadn't been there, I would've been toast, and the world would have ended."

"Give yourself a little more credit than that," Mina said. "You made it on your own against Queen Beryl, and don't even _try_ to tell me you weren't completely alone then!"

"Comparing Beryl to Chaos is like comparing a professional football team with a middle school football team, Mina."

"Still, you made it!"

"I came incredibly close to just giving up. You have no idea how close I got."

"Obviously, something stopped you."

"I had the Starlights urging me on, and Chaos sneering at me for being weak, and I didn't want your sacrifices to be in vain."

"There you go! You're stronger than you think."

"I can't help but worry. If that prophecy comes true, I don't know what will happen."

"Didn't it mention something about some 'Unquiet Ones'? Who, or _what_ are they?" Mina wondered.

The answer wormed its way into Serena's mind, and she spoke it aloud. "They're the unquiet spirits of those slain by the enemy." They all stared at her. "I don't know why, but my gut is telling me that that's what they are," she said. "I just have this feeling…"

"Your dreams are starting to have a freaky tendency to come true," Mina said. "Didn't you dream about where you'd find the prophecy and all that? You investigated it, and it turned out to be real."

"Yeah."

"Did you dream anything else we should know about?"

Serena thought for a minute, and her eyes slid involuntarily to the Outers, who all looked at her as if to say, 'Are you going to mention that one nightmare you had?' They hadn't told the others about that one, singular, horrible nightmare she'd had. They had all wanted it to turn out to be a mere nightmare, and nothing more. Now, it seemed it might become a reality.

"Actually, yes. I had a nightmare a few months ago. I woke up screaming, and I probably scared these four-" she gestured to the Outers. "Half to death."

"What happened?"

"Well, I walked through the mirrors on my closet door, and I was in this room, hidden in the shadows. The witch was talking to her wolf, and I saw this boy chained to a wall. He was the one who originally killed the witch. He was telling her that her plan wouldn't work, and she was going on and on about getting her revenge on Selene for her banishment. I think wolf must have smelled me, because she suddenly knew I was there.

"I thought I was done for, but then I just randomly yelled the name of the capital of the U.S. and ran. Unfortunately, I kept ending up right back where I started. Eventually, the witch said that she was getting tired of that game, and I was like, 'What game? Who's playing games? Are they playing Monopoly?' She got annoyed after that, and suddenly I was chained to a table, and she was sharpening her knife."

"Where were we?" Rae asked.

"That's the part that had me screaming, and the reason the Outers spent the rest of the night trying to pull me out of hysteria. You were all…" the blonde swallowed hard, and couldn't continue. Nonetheless, they all knew what she meant.

"Oh…" the fiery tempered priestess whispered.

"She was just about to slice my heart out before I woke up."

Everyone was silent. Seiya had been moving closer and closer to Serena ever since she'd begun describing her nightmare, and now, his arms were wrapped protectively around her. The blonde shivered, and rested her head on Seiya's chest, listening to the strong, steady sound of his heart beating. He simply held her, and silently swore to himself never to let her dream become a reality. He wouldn't let anyone do something so horrible to her. He met Amara's eyes, and they had an unspoken understanding pass between them. They would both fight to the end to protect her.

"So where do we go from here?" Lita wondered.

"We prepare for battle," Michelle replied grimly.


	22. Act Twenty One

**Act Twenty One: The Prophecy Begins**

**AN: **Hello, readers! Me again! I hope you enjoy the show!

The last day of March dawned, and it was, ironically, a lovely day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, and the plants were beginning to awaken. It was a Friday. Serena walked through the hallways at school with a detached sense of calm. Her senses were so wired that she could practically hear the heartbeats of those around her. Renee was tense and alert, and seemed unfocused. Neither girl could carry on a conversation, so concerned were they about what they would face. If the prophecy was truly meant to come true, they were in for the fight of their lives.

When Serena returned home, she managed to convince Sammy to go on an overnight with a friend he'd made in the neighborhood, and also contrived to have her parents be gone for the night. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino were reluctant to leave their daughter alone, but she convinced them that she would be all right. All she could do was pray that this battle would end well, and that her parents would not come home to find her mutilated body. It was all the blonde could do not to fall apart and sob out the whole story. What held her back from that was her determination to keep her family away from that dangerous part of her life.

It began around twilight, that lonely time when light slowly succumbed to darkness. The Scouts had all been standing facing the mirrored doors all evening. Sailor Moon clutched the Tier in her hands, her face a mask of unshakable calm. When twilight came, cracks began to form on the mirrored surfaces, and light shone out from between them. All of them tensed in anticipation. The Outers, Inners, and Starlights moved slightly in front of Sailor Moon, forming a wall between whatever was coming out and the blonde Moon Princess.

Soon, the witch emerged, the wolf at her side. She smiled when she saw them all. "It appears that we have a welcoming committee, Maximus," she said. "Are you all so eager to meet your doom?"

"We're not here so much to meet doom as we are to prevent evil from emerging once again," Pluto replied.

"Brave words. However, words mean little. This could be painless; hand over the Moon Princess and the Crystal she holds, and you shall all be spared."

"Not a chance!" Mars cried.

"What say you, Princess Serenity? Your friends have refused; will you do so as well?"

"I will fight alongside my friends, whatever may come," the girl replied with a confidence she didn't actually feel.

"Very well." The witch, bearing the name of Serenata, raised her hand, and all of them but Sailor Moon were thrown to the side.

The blonde girl regarded her enemy coolly, and lightly stepped out of Serenata's path, moving closer to Sailor Star Fighter, who was struggling to her feet. Serenata aimed a spell, but the Moon Princess, in a single, graceful movement, pulled herself and Fighter out of harm's way. By now, everyone else was on their feet, and Sailor Sun launched an attack. It hit the enemy dead on, but it didn't even leave a mark.

"I see you're all determined to make this difficult," Serenata sighed.

"_Excuse me_? _You're _the one who's planning a massacre!" Sailor Moon snapped.

"A massacre would not be necessary if you were not so stubborn."

"I'm not the one who's been holding a grudge for millennia." Sailor Moon ducked as another spell was tossed her way.

"You'll probably live longer if you don't annoy her," Sailor Star Healer suggested helpfully.

"She was annoying first," the blonde grumbled.

"Will you two _focus_?" Maker snapped. "This is _not _the time to have a childish argument!"

Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Moon closed their mouths and turned their attention back to the enemy, who was clearly concentrating on an incredibly powerful spell. Sailors Uranus and Neptune combined attacks and launched the energy at the enemy. Like Sailor Sun's attack, it didn't even leave so much as a scratch. Finally, Sailor Moon let loose with the most random, irrelevant burst of speech.

"OH, MY GOD! I LIKE, TOTALLY _LOVE_ JUSTIN BIEBER!" the blonde shrieked.

Everyone, including Serenata and the wolf, stared at her with looks that said quite clearly; '_What the flying fuck?_"

Sailor Moon raised the Tier and shouted her attack so fast that no one really understood what she said. Nonetheless, a burst of power shot out and hit the enemy dead on. This time, it left a long, deep, bloody gash across Serenata's arm. That was when everyone realized that the ditzy blonde had made that crazy remark just to get her opponent's guard down. Even Uranus had to admit that it was unbelievably effective. The wolf growled and lunged at the blonde, but was swiftly knocked to the side by Sailor Star Fighter, who couldn't help but grin at the Moon Princess' resourcefulness.

"I can't believe you fell for that a third time!" Sailor Moon giggled. She had to dive out of the way, as Serenata launched a magical fireball at her.

"_I _can't believe you love _Justin Bieber_!" Venus shrieked. "The guy sounds like a six year old girl!"

"I _don't_ love Justin Bieber! I can't stand him! He doesn't know the word 'German'! I just said that to distract the bad guy!"

"No, she prefers Ke$ha's _Blah Blah Blah_," Uranus stated, knocking Maximus the wolf to the side again.

Venus replied, "I'm okay as long as she doesn't like Justin Bieber!"

"I'm totally anti-Justin," Sailor Moon assured her.

"FOCUS ON THE BATTLE, DAMN IT!" Mars yelled.

Serena whooped and dodged another blast from Serenata, then blew a raspberry, ducking another spell that could possibly maim/kill her as she did so. Healer rolled her eyes, thinking; '_If this is how they always behave during a fight, I'm not so sure that we're going to make it out of this in one piece._' The silver-haired warrior was forced to somersault out of the way as an errant blast headed her way. She wondered if they hadn't underestimated the enemy, and worried that they would not survive.

**AN: **My humblest apologies to you Justin Bieber fans out there. I personally loathe him, but I'm not trying to force you to hate him. Forgive me if I've offended you. Every jab was all in good fun.


	23. Act Twenty Two

**Act Twenty Two: First, the Stars Will Be Locked Away…**

**AN:** It's official; this annoying plot bunny wants me to finish this story ASAP.

The battle was fairly evenly matched for a long time. Sailor Moon kept making incredibly distracting remarks, giving the others room to get in an attack before the enemy's defenses came up again. They all had figured out that Serenata needed absolute focus to keep up her defenses and to attack. Maximus was a danger, but as he was only a beast, and they were human, they could easily avoid his attacks. Neither side was actually winning. They could dodge blasts, and Serenata could block their attacks. It wasn't like the annoying, concentration-demolishing remarks always worked. Sailor Moon had to be careful to avoid being harmed and think of things to shout that would have the right effect. If she wasn't careful, she might just end up getting fried.

Sailor Star Maker watched the enemy warily. She could sense that something was about to change. Their enemy was clearly up to something, as the woman they were battling was beginning to glow with power. Something was about to happen, and it couldn't possibly be anything good. The amethyst-eyed Starlight moved closer to Mercury. She would die before she allowed Mercury to be harmed. She caught Healer's eye, and sent a silent, discreet signal to watch the enemy extremely closely.

Sailor Star Healer read the signal and nodded, indicating that she understood. The silver-haired Starlight moved closer to Venus. Like Maker, defending her love came first, and she knew perfectly well that Fighter had Sailor Moon covered. She watched their enemy closely, and kicked Maximus out of the way as that annoying wolf lunged again. Discreetly forming a one-woman wall between Serenata and Venus, she tried to figure out exactly what the enemy was planning. One of the ominous lines of the prophecy, barely remembered, worked its way into her mind. She pushed it away; she didn't have time to chicken out over something like that.

Sailor Star Fighter had barely left Sailor Moon's side since the battle began. She silently observed that Maker and Healer were discreetly becoming barriers between Serenata and the ones they loved. The blue-eyed Starlight turned her eyes to the enemy. Serenata was giving off a noticeable glow now. Something was about to happen. Now she knew why her comrades were so worried. The noir-haired girl kept an even closer eye on Serenata, and focused her other senses on keeping track of Sailor Moon. There was no way she would allow her Odango to be harmed. Despite this, the ominous words of the prophecy echoed in her mind. _'First, the stars will be locked away…the moon will die…'_ 'Not on my watch,' she thought.

Sailor Moon pretended not to notice what was going on, but she did. She saw how Maker and Healer moved closer to Mercury and Venus, subtly making themselves barriers between her dear friends and Serenata. She knew that Fighter was even more attuned to her than usual, and she could feel Serenata's growing power. It worried her, but she didn't allow it to show on her face. She had an idea of what was about to happen, and she feared it. She moved closer to Fighter, pushing her fears away. She could pull her love out of the way if anything happened. She met the eyes of Mercury and Venus, who nodded. They had both realized what was going on, and they were determined not to let it happen.

Serenata was now glowing as brightly as a beacon, so that several of them had to cover their eyes. Sailor Moon looked straight into the light; her instincts were shouting at her to move, to get out of the way. Every particle of her being was shouting at her that she was in danger. The blonde grabbed Fighter's arm. Something was about to happen, and her instincts told her that Fighter would be the target. She could see three blasts emerging from the light, and one of them was heading straight for Fighter. She tried to pull her love out of the way, but Fighter wasn't moving an inch.

"Fighter, you need to move," she whispered.

"If I move out of the way, that blast will hit you. There's no way that'll happen," was the dark-haired girl's response.

The blast was coming right at them, gaining speed. Fighter knocked Sailor Moon out of the way just as it struck her. The blonde screamed her name as the Starlight was completely swallowed by the light. When it faded, she was gone. Jupiter had to hold her back from charging at Serenata, and the blonde was sobbing and screaming at the brunette to let her go. She clawed at the arms that held on to her and struggled, but Jupiter was too strong. Through her tears, she noticed that Mars and Uranus were holding back Venus, who was as distressed as she was, and Neptune and Pluto were holding back a sobbing Mercury. Healer and Maker were nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, no…" the Moon Princess moaned. "Oh, gods, no…" she sank to her knees. All three of the Starlights were gone? That couldn't be! Surely Venus and Mercury reacted in time…Healer and Maker…they'd been as stubborn as Fighter. They had refused to put them in harm's way, and they'd paid dearly. Serenata had known that all along.

Jupiter roughly hauled the sobbing blonde to her feet. "Serena, you can't fall apart now," she said sternly. "We need to finish this."

Sailor Moon swallowed hard and pushed her tears away, then she went to Mercury and Venus. "Come on, guys," she said softly. "Let's make this bitch pay!"

Venus and Mercury nodded, and all three turned to face Serenata. "End of the line, witch," Mercury snarled. "This ends now."

The witch smiled. "If you insist."

†_§†_

Fighter groaned as she regained consciousness. Her head hurt like hell…wait. Where was Serena? She needed to find her, make sure she was all right. She had to protect her from Serenata. She hauled herself to her feet and looked frantically around for the blonde. Where the hell was she? She hadn't been here when she'd been hit by that blast…behind her, someone groaned. She spun around.

It was Healer. Healer was here, too? Maker came into view. As well as Maker? What on Earth had happened? The dark-haired girl scratched her head in confusion. What had that blast done to them? Where were they? Was Serena all right? Amy, Mina…were they all right? Fighter looked to Maker for an answer. The chestnut-haired Starlight was just as confused as she was. A jet of horrendous language flew from Healer's mouth as the silver-haired girl realized that they were not where they should be, and that Venus was in danger. Maker sighed, but she didn't bother to reprimand her friend. If any situation was grounds to curse, this had to be it.

"Where are we?" Fighter wondered aloud.

"Apparently, whatever hit us transported somewhere else," Maker mused.

"That's nice," Healer said sarcastically. "How do we get out of here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Honestly, I have no idea."

Fighter swore. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE, DAMN IT!" she shrieked. "THE OTHERS COULD BE DYING AS WE SPEAK!"

Maker winced. "I know, Fighter, but we have to remain calm. We'll figure this out, but we won't be able to do that until you calm down. Swearing and shouting is not going to help."

Fighter swore again, but she quieted. A certain coldness was creeping up her legs. She looked down.

"Shit," she muttered. Ice was slowly creeping up her legs. "Uh, Maker?" She looked down at her comrade's legs. They were freezing over, too. So were Healer's. The other two were so deep in thought that they didn't notice. "GUYS! WE'RE TURNING INTO ICE SCULPTURES!" she yelled.

Maker looked at Fighter in confusion. Healer rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Fighter, get a grip!" the silver-haired girl snapped. "_No one_ is turning into an ice sculpture."

With a saucy tone that only Fighter could pull off, the dark-haired girl replied, "Look down."

Healer looked down…and screamed. "OH, GOD!"

Maker looked down, and her face became grim. "It appears that that blast did more than take us somewhere else," she stated. "It's also going to freeze us in time."

"WHAT?" Healer screeched.

"You heard me. We're being frozen in time."

"What do we do, Fighter?" Healer asked, panicked.

"We remain calm and try to break the ice," Fighter replied calmly.

Healer slammed her fist into the ice around her legs. Nothing happened, except that Healer ended up with a bruised hand. She pulled out her star yell and started to aim, but Maker grabbed her arm.

"I wouldn't recommend that. You could misfire and lose an arm," the violet eyed girl warned.

Fighter was forcing her legs to move in all sorts of extremely uncomfortable contortions in an effort to get rid of the ice. It wasn't working. In fact, her resistance seemed to speed up the freezing process. The ice had come up almost to her waist. Healer couldn't help but gasp in horror. Frantically, she signaled at Fighter to remain still. Fighter wasn't paying attention. Maker was standing still as a statue, having figured out that movement only caused one to freeze faster. She was watching Fighter with a certain amount of helpless horror.

"FIGHTER!" Healer yelled.

"What?" Fighter choked out. The film of ice was now up to her neck.

"Hold still! If you move, you'll only freeze faster!"

"_Now_ you tell me!" the dark-haired girl grunted. The ice was creeping up to her face.

Healer dragged herself over to her comrade. The ice on her was creeping up to her waist. It was so cold…it was almost unbearable. Fighter sank down, and the film of ice grew thicker and less transparent. The dark-haired girl's eyes drifted closed, and the ice completely took over. Healer clawed at the ice around her friend, frantically trying to free her. The ice on Healer was going up her arms and inching up past her shoulders. Healer ignored it, and continued to try to save her friend.

Maker was over there in an instant, trying to get Healer to be still. If they kept moving, they would never get out of here. Nevertheless, Healer quickly joined Fighter, and succumbed to the power of whatever dark spell had been place upon them. Only Maker was left. In her efforts to save Healer, the ice on her had begun to work its way up to her waist and was slowly freezing her arms. The chestnut-haired girl looked around for a way out, but could find nothing. She tried to remain as still as possible, but the ice eventually did its work, and the last Starlight sank into darkness, filled with dark dreams.


	24. Act Twenty Three

**Act Twenty Three: And Then Will Fall the Light Of Day…**

Sailor Sun watched the Moon Princess' resolve harden in the face of the recent tragedy. The guardian of the sun could only hope that the casualties would end there. Some sixth sense of hers whispered that by the time the sun rose, they would all be dead. She kept these thoughts to herself. No one needed to hear such ominous, dark words in light of what had just happened. The Starlights had fallen. All of them had been taken by one blow. That first blow was like the beginning of the end. They were all weakened, their force depleted.

The red-haired soldier forced herself to remain calm as she realized what the enemy was planning. Serenata was going to pick them all off, one by one, until Serenity was left defenseless. Once that was done, the only thing standing between her Princess and certain death was Fate. And Fate rarely allowed anyone to survive a battle such as this one. Sailor Sun kept her eyes on the enemy, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Serenata launched several magical blasts at Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Venus. All three dodged, and they all launched one massive attack. Unfortunately, Serenata had her defenses up, and the three's massive display of power did no good. They were weakening themselves by attacking uselessly. Sailor Sun searched the room for Maximus. The wolf was stealthily creeping around in Uranus' blind spot, and moving closer and closer to Neptune. That was all the excuse the Solar Senshi needed. She had her distraction plan.

The red-head sent Maximus flying with a swift kick, and had the wolf backed into a corner. Scorching heat radiated from her palms, and sparks were flying from her fingertips. Maximus howled in distress, catching his mistress' attention. Realizing that her love was in danger, Serenata lost focus, and all of them felt her defenses come crashing down. The witch turned her attention to Sailor Sun, and began to cast a nasty-sounding spell. Mercury, Venus, and Moon seized the opportunity and launched another triple attack. At the same time, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, and Mars launched a combined attack. Sailor Sun dove out of the way, and both blasts hit Serenata dead on.

When the dust and cleared and the light from the blasts faded, they all looked to see what damage had been done. When they saw the results, none of them could suppress a gasp. They had barely left a scratch! Somehow, the witch had been able to get her shields up again in time. Sailor Sun allowed a jet of language that could have been the reason the _Titanic _crashed into an iceberg to pass her lips. That only served to emphasize the fact that it was quite possible that Serenata was even more powerful than Chaos. It was highly possible, the Solar Senshi thought. After all, Serenata _was_ a goddess, born of two immortal parents.

Serenata smirked at all of them. "Did you fools honestly think that such weak powers could harm me? Your distraction techniques have ceased to be of any use to you." Then, with one movement of her arm, she sent all of them flying, and she had Sailor Moon by the throat. The blonde's eyes were enlarged with terror, but her face remained calm, and she did not scream or whimper. She simply regarded her enemy with a look of intense dislike. "Now, hand me the Silver Crystal, child," Serenata whispered dangerously.

"When Hell freezes over, maybe," the blonde gasped out.

"So defiant! Well, I'll rid you of that characteristic soon enough…what shall I do, hmm? Which of your friends should I kill first?"

"What are you on about? You already killed the Starlights!"

"Where did you get that idea? No, I simply froze them in time beneath layers of ice. Those three weren't enough of a threat to be worth killing."

Sailor Moon paled visibly, and Venus and Mercury gasped. All three were having horrible images of the men/women they loved being frozen in time and ice, possibly suffering horrible pain and misery.

"Fear not. I put them into a deep sleep…filled with dark dreams." Serenata tightened her grip around Sailor Moon's throat. An invisible force was acting as a wall between the witch and her hostage and the other Senshi. Sailor Sun slammed into the barrier. She had to save the Princess. She glanced at Uranus. The sky soldier was muttering unspeakable curses under her breath and frantically trying to force her way past the barrier. The others were doing so as well, with no success. None of them knew what to do; all they knew was that if they didn't find a way to destroy this barrier soon, they would be forced to watch their Princess die.

Suddenly, Pluto did the most out-of character thing anyone would have thought possible; she started singing the _My Little Pony_ theme song. Everyone stared at the time soldier like she had completely lost it. Of course, considering the situation, it would be easy to see why. One thing did come of it; Serenata was so stunned that the barrier collapsed. Uranus recovered herself and charged, knocking the enemy aside and pulling Sailor Moon out of harm's way. Sailor Sun shook her head a little to clear her mind and decided it was best to leave exactly how Pluto knew that song to the imagination. The red-haired soldier attacked Maximus again. Perhaps, if she could destroy the wolf, she could break Serenata's will, and end this battle before any more casualties occurred. That turned out to be a mistake.

At the sound of Maximus' howl, Serenata turned, and as she saw who threatened her love, her eyes burned with pure fury. She raised a hand, and flames began to fill the room. Out of the flames rose a bronze dagger, and before anyone could stop it, it embedded itself in Sailor Sun's heart. Sailor Moon gasped in horror, and she fell into a dead faint. Serenata laughed, and Mars tried to exercise her control of fire and put the flames out, to no avail.

Uranus picked up Serena, and yelled, "Come on, we need to get out of here!" The Scouts obeyed, and they fled the scorching heat of the basement.

Serena soon roused from her faint, but her eyes were teary. "Renee," she whispered.

Pluto bowed her head. "She's gone."

Serena wept.


	25. Act Twenty Four

**Act Twenty Four: Next, the Inner Guard Shall Fall…**

With the basement burning, they all knew that it was only a matter of time before the whole building collapsed, so they headed for the only place they could think of at present; the tunnels. Serena was crying so hard that she could barely keep her hands from shaking long enough to let them in, but somehow, she did it. Uranus shoved the door shut behind them, and they kept moving. They ended up in the chamber that had held the book that had informed them of what they were facing.

'A fat lot of good that did us,' Uranus thought bitterly. 'Three of us are locked up in God-knows-where, and another one of us is dead!' The sky soldier tried to push the angry thoughts from her mind so she could comfort her Princess, but they wouldn't allow themselves to be pushed aside. Mercury had her arms wrapped around Sailor Moon, and she was quietly comforting her friend. Uranus had to turn away to hide her growing frustration. Surely even the battle with Chaos hadn't been this bad! If things kept going the way they were going, none of them would be alive tomorrow. Hell, there probably wouldn't even _be_ a tomorrow! This was driving the sky soldier insane. She hated feeling this helpless.

Neptune rested a hand on Uranus' shoulder. "What's bothering you?" she asked quietly.

"This whole mess. No matter what we do, that homicidal bitch always holds the ace! It seems like nothing we do makes a difference! Serena's a wreck, and I don't know how to help her; I feel helpless."

"I understand. I think we all feel that way."

"Michelle, what are we going to do? We can't go on like this."

"I know. But we have to have faith in Serena. She always comes through."

"That she does."

_Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ__†__Ѣ_

Mercury held on to her Princess and best friend, trying to comfort the sobbing blonde, despite the fact that she was shedding her own tears. How had they gotten here? First, they'd lost the Starlights, and then, Sailor Sun had fallen. How many more losses would they suffer before this was over? The blue-haired girl closed her eyes against the images that roared through her mind like a tidal wave; Maker being swallowed by that damnable light, Renee's eyes staring up lifelessly at the ceiling, Serena trapped in the iron vise of Serenata's grasp…Gods, it was so horrible! The ice soldier looked at Venus. Venus' face was tear-stained, and her eyes were filled with a sense of pain and helplessness, mixed with despair.

"Shh, it'll be all right," Mercury soothed. "We'll get to the bottom of this, and we'll find a way to free the Starlights."

"What about Renee?" Serena sobbed.

"I don't know," Mercury answered sadly.

Serena let out another sob, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were dry, and they blazed with a certain amount of determination. "I'm going back," she declared.

"What?" Mercury yelped. "It's too dangerous!"

"It's just as dangerous to keep running and hiding like frightened animals. It's stupid to just sit around and wait for Serenata to find us again!"

"It's also stupid to go after her! It's _more_ than stupid; it's _suicidal_!" Mercury shouted. Her usually calm, easy-going nature was rattled by this sudden recklessness.

"We're all going to die anyway! We could at least go down fighting!" Serena yelled.

Mercury's hand moved of its own accord; it raised itself, and landed a hard, condemning slap on the blonde's face. "Will you listen to yourself?" the blue-haired girl snarled."Think about what you're saying!" Then, she turned and stormed to the other side of the room, keeping her back to the others.

Serena touched her cheek lightly where Mercury 's hand had landed. It stung. However, she didn't cry. She'd cried enough. The blonde stood and walked over to the stand that held the book. She lifted it, and promptly launched it across the room. In some strange sense, she blamed the book for these problems. If she hadn't read the book, she wouldn't be feeling pity for the enemy. If she hadn't explored the other rooms, she wouldn't have read the prophecy, and then, perhaps, Renee would still be alive, and the one she loved would be with her right now.

She sighed heavily. She didn't blame Mercury for lashing out. She wasn't sure what had caused her to say the things she'd said. Most likely, it was grief, frustration, and fear. The blonde knew that the Outers were watching her with concern, and that the other Inners were shocked by her outburst. She knew that it was out of character for her. Of course, it was out of character for all of them to lose a battle. It was Chaos all over again, except that this time, she had far more to lose. Serena walked over to Mercury.

"Sorry," the blue-haired girl mumbled.

"It's okay. All our tempers are running high. I'm sorry for what I said. I was a jerk."

"You were just saying what the rest of us were too afraid to say."

"No, I was freaking out, and I took it out on everyone else."

"When you said you were going after Serenata, I was scared. I was afraid you'd actually do it, and that I'd lose someone else."

"When you slapped me, I came to senses. Thanks. I think you saved my life."

"Uh, you're welcome?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM, and the door to the chamber caved in. Serenata, along with Maximus, entered. "God, does she go _anywhere_ without that mutt?" Serena muttered.

Mercury let out a brief laugh. "I don't think so," she replied.

"Do you think we could just use normal weapons instead of our powers?"

"It's possible. But do you see anything we could use?"

"There, in the back right corner!"

Mercury looked in that direction. Sure enough, there were weapons. The question was; how would they get some of them without attracting Serenata's attention. The two girls locked gazes, blocking out the sounds of another battle beginning. They communicated silently for a moment, quickly working out a plan to get the weapons, and creating a simple, easy-to-work-with diversion. Then, they rallied.

Mercury called up her trademark mist, and the two raced for the weapons, grabbing as many as they could before the mist was lifted. Chances were, with Serenata around, it wouldn't last very long. Mercury got her hands on a bow and arrows, and Sailor Moon got her hands on a small knife. True to their guess, the mist only lasted two minutes due to Serenata's power. Once the mist cleared, Mercury aimed and shot an arrow. It grazed the enemy's arm, but otherwise did little damage.

The witch raised an arm, and once again, the Outer Senshi were tossed to the side, with only the Inners still standing. Mercury aimed another arrow, but Serenata waved a hand, and it dissolved into nothing. The blue-haired girl gave Sailor Moon a frightened look. Nothing they tried worked! What were they to do? Sailor Moon touched the small knife, seemed to murmur a prayer, and threw it. By a small stroke of luck, her aim was true, and the knife penetrated the enemy's right side. Serenata let out a shriek of rage and pain, then pulled the knife out of her side. The wound was fully healed within five seconds. Sailor Moon paled, and that was when Mercury realized that it was very unlikely that any of them would make it out of this alive.

"Serena," Mercury whispered. "Guys, get over here!"

Serena moved closer, and Mars, Jupiter, and Venus did as well.

"Listen, we're in major trouble. We need to make sure Serena gets out of here. I'm going to count to three, and when I say 'three,' Jupiter, Mars, Venus, you're going to combine attacks with me to create a diversion. Serena, you need to get to the Outers, and you'll all need to run for your lives."

Sailor Moon realized what Mercury was suggesting, and shook her head frantically. "No," she said. "No. I'm not leaving you! I'm not going to abandon you just to save my own skin."

"Yes, you are," Venus replied calmly. "You won't be abandoning us. We'll just be sacrificing ourselves to save our Princess. Abandonment has nothing to do with it."

"Not happening. If I run, it _is _abandonment."

"No, it isn't. It's our duty to protect you at any cost," Mercury stated, coolly logical as always.

"What about Luna and Artemis? You left them back in Seattle. They'll know what's happened. Who's going to tell them what kind of danger the world's in if we all fail?"

"You will not fail. We all have faith in you."

"That's what worries me. What if this time, your faith is misplaced?"

"We don't have time for this! Start counting, Mercury!" Mars shouted. "Just go, Meatball Head!"

Sailor Moon's eyes teared up, but she remained silent. She hugged them all, and started moving.

"One," Mercury counted.

The four Inners took their positions and cleared their minds.

"Two."

They summoned their powers, and became one with their elements.

"Three."

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"

"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"

At the sound of those familiar attacks being called out, a lump formed in Sailor Moon's throat, but she forced herself to keep moving. She reached the Outers, and one look was all it took for them to get the message. No questions asked, the four fled the chamber with her. As they moved down the tunnel, Serenata's laughter echoed through the tunnel, and the sickening sound of stone collapsing was like a bullet to all their hearts. The blonde was sobbing, and she started to turn and run back. Pluto seized her arm, and, rather roughly, pulled her back. She struggled, but Pluto was far stronger. After they had gone a long way, they stopped, and Serena dissolved into silent tears. She could feel the presences of the Inner Senshi leaving Earth, and that caused her indescribable pain.


	26. Act Twenty Five

**Act Twenty Five: And Then, the Outer Guard Will Fade…**

Uranus couldn't believe this situation. First, the Starlights were frozen in time and condemned to nightmares for all eternity, then, Sailor Sun was killed in cold blood, and now, the Inner Scouts had given their lives so that the rest of them could escape death! The sandy-blonde sky soldier realized with horror that the prophecy was coming true. The stars had been locked away, the sun had fallen, and now, the inner guard was completely wiped out. That meant they, the Outers were next. And then, Serena would be left defenseless. That was the part she couldn't stand. There was no telling what Serenata would do to their Princess once they were gone.

The sky soldier's dark green eyes filled, and she held on more tightly to the sobbing Moon Princess. She didn't know what to do. This was _definitely_ worse than Chaos. With Chaos, she'd had the slightly cold comfort of knowing that the Starlights were there. Now, all that stood between Serena and her cruel fate was the Outers. The outer guard. Neptune met Uranus' eyes. Both knew that they would need a miracle to survive. This whole situation was hopeless. Nevertheless, Uranus knew that they would all fight to the end. As long as any of them remained alive, their Princess would never be put at the mercy of the enemy.

After thirty minutes, Pluto said, "We need to get moving again. If we stay in one spot for long, we'll surely be found."

Uranus nodded, and helped Sailor Moon to her feet. The petite blonde's tears still continued to flow like a river, but her sobs were stilled. She clung to Uranus, and stayed close to them all. Neptune kept one hand on the petite blonde's shoulder, offering silent reassurance. Saturn's eyes were watchful, ever focused on the shadows, lest something should take them by surprise. Pluto's face was grim, but the time soldier didn't need to say that it was hopeless; they all knew that already.

The five walked through the tunnels for hours, all of them jumping at the slightest sound. Sailor Moon almost had a heart attack when a rat scurried across her foot. After they'd been walking for what felt like several miles, Neptune was struck with a feeling that they'd gone down a path that led to somewhere they'd never been before. The air in this tunnel was mustier than that of the others, and it seemed darker somehow. Was it possible that they were now underground, and that they would never see the light of day again? Neptune decided not to have any expectations. The night's events had taught her not to try and figure out what would happen next.

Finally, they came to an ancient-looking door. This door had nothing carved on it. Cautiously, Pluto and Uranus pushed it open. No negativity came rushing out, so that was surely a good sign. They walked in.

"We'll try to rest here. Goodness knows we need it," Pluto stated.

They all nodded silently. Nobody powered down. That was too big a risk to take. Uranus sat down and rested her back against a wall. Neptune joined her. Pluto stayed near the door. She was the lightest sleeper, able to wake up at a moment's notice. Saturn curled up next to her, and all four Outers drifted into a troubled sleep. Sailor Moon moved into the darkest corner, and remained awake. The petite blonde couldn't sleep; every time she closed her eyes, horrifying images flashed behind her closed lids.

Unfortunately, sleep overcame her eventually. And thus, the Moon Princess dreamed. She was in a stone chamber, and the frozen forms of the Starlights surrounded her. Healer was kneeling over Fighter; clearly, she'd been trying to free the dark-haired girl when she succumbed to Serenata's spell. Maker was lying next to Healer. Something told the blonde that the violet-eyed Starlight had been the last to freeze. In the next dream, she was among the charred remains of her bedroom, and her eyes fell upon what was left of Renee. It was too terrible to describe. In the final dream, she hovered like a ghost over the inert forms of her Inner Senshi, lying among the rubble.

She awoke sobbing quietly, and didn't allow herself to drift into sleep again. She didn't need any more nightmares. The blonde curled into a fetal position and lay there, too sad and too drained to move or even think. Nevertheless, she did not sleep. Her mind simply shut down, and she sank into darkness. She did not resurface. Whether this was from fear, grief, or despair, no one, not even herself, would ever know.

†_§†_

Pluto suddenly jerked awake, and her eyes scanned the room. Uranus and Neptune were clearly still breathing; good. Saturn was next to her, sleeping fitfully as only children could do, and Serena…where was Serena? The time soldier stood up and looked around. There she was; she was curled into a fetal position in the darkest part of the room. That wasn't good. The Guardian of Time knelt next to her Princess' still form. She was still breathing, and her eyes were open. Something was wrong. She looked more closely. The blonde's eyes were open, but they were unfocused, like her mind wasn't here in this room with the rest of them.

"Princess?" she whispered.

There was no response.

Lightly, she touched her hand. "Princess?"

Still no response. Pluto felt her heart-rate accelerate. This wasn't good. There was no telling where the petite blonde's mind was now. All anyone could do was wait and hope that she would come out of it soon. The time soldier remained beside the girl, and she did not sleep again. She needed to make sure that her Princess returned to them. If Serena was allowed to completely sink into darkness, they would all be lost.

†_§†_

Eventually, Serena's mind awoke, and she sat up. Pluto was kneeling next to her. "Pluto, is something wrong?" she asked.

Pluto faced her, and the time soldier's face held relief. "Good, you're awake. I woke up and checked on you, and it was like you had sunk into a coma."

"I guess everything that's happened finally caught up to me."

"Yes. Did you sleep at all?"

"Yeah, but I had a bunch of nightmares. About the things that have already happened, I mean."

"I understand. These recent events would give anyone nightmares."

A wolf's howl sounded throughout the tunnels. It sounded close by. Serena tensed, and all color left her face. Pluto gripped her staff, and she woke Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn. The wolf howled again, and they were all ready for battle in an instant. The sound was even closer. It had been a bad idea to stop here, Pluto realized. And now they were trapped. It wasn't advisable to try and get away now, considering how close the wolf appeared to be. Perhaps Serenata would just pass them by. The door opened, and Pluto thrust Serena into the shadows in an effort to keep her hidden.

"When will you fools realize that no matter where you go or what you do, you will never be able to hide from me for long?" Serenata sneered.

"I guess we all just hate you so much that we decide running for all eternity is easier than spending five minutes in the same room as you," Uranus retorted. The sky soldier turned her dark green eyes to Pluto, silently begging the time soldier to do something.

Pluto casually aimed a blast at Serenata that was designed to create tons of smoke. When it cleared, only Pluto was left. The others had taken Serena and run, like they were supposed to. Serenata raised her arms, and Pluto regarded her stoically.

As they ran, a blood-curdling scream echoed behind them. Sailor Moon's face became even paler, and she stumbled. Uranus grabbed her arm and pulled her along, despite the fact that her vision was clouded by tears. Neptune was wiping away tears as she ran, and she held Saturn's hand tightly. Saturn was weeping, too, but she kept going. Their first priority was to protect Serena. They all kept moving forward, not daring to look back. Finally, they ducked into a corner, and came face to face with Maximus. Maximus howled, and Uranus swore, then launched a kick at the wolf. The wolf sank his teeth into her leg. Neptune sent him flying, and moved to help Uranus, but Uranus waved her away.

"No. Keep going. We need to make sure Serenata doesn't get her hands on the Princess," she said through clenched teeth, clutching her leg.

Neptune's eyes filled with tears, and she opened her mouth to object.

"_Go_," the sky soldier hissed.

Neptune nodded, and, along with Saturn and Sailor Moon, disappeared into the shadows. They moved as fast as possible, trying to put as much distance between Serenata and themselves as possible. A single, agonized scream followed them, and was abruptly cut off. Neptune sank down, sobbing. Sailor Moon stopped, and knelt beside her, but Saturn grabbed the blonde's arm. When the blonde looked at the small girl in question, she said, "We need to keep going."

Neptune pulled herself to her feet. "Go," she ordered. "We've lost ground. I'll stay to make sure there's a greater distance between you and Serenata."

Sailor Moon shook her head, and would have stayed, but Saturn, who was surprisingly strong for someone so small, pulled her along. No screams followed them, but the blonde felt the all-too familiar pain in her heart as the water soldier sank into the arms of Lord Death. Tears blinding her, she let Saturn lead her to unknown places. Finally, they reached a door, and Saturn threw it open. It led outside. Surprisingly, it was still night time. Or it was the next night. Serena climbed out and took a breath of fresh air. Serenata appeared, and Saturn raised her glaive.

Sailor Moon gasped, "Saturn…no! Don't!"

"It's the only way," Saturn told her sadly.

"NO!"

"Stay back."

"No, I won't let you do this!"

"Run, Princess."

"But—"

"Now."

Sailor Moon obeyed, and tears spilled from her eyes as her last soldier fell.


	27. Act Twenty Six

**Act Twenty Six: Finally, the Moonlight Will Be Taken From the Sky…**

Serena continued to run, despite the fact that she couldn't see where she was headed due to the tears that spilled from her eyes. She sensed Saturn's presence passing from the Earth, and her heart broke. Nevertheless, it was a relief to see that there was still some part of her heart that was left to break. After everything that had happened, she'd feared she had no heart left at all. She'd been losing it, piece by piece as her protectors, friends, and family fell at the hands of Serenata. The blonde continued to run, praying that Saturn's sacrifice hadn't been in vain. Some horrible sixth sense told her that it had.

The thought was horrible; had all of them died for nothing? What if, after all of their battles and efforts and sacrifices, it ended like this? What would become of the world if she, Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity of the White Moon, fell and joined the rest of them in death? Would invaders come swarming through the galaxy like locusts, or would the planet just fall apart, piece by piece? The blonde shuddered, and tried to push away those dark thoughts. It was no use. There was no light left in her to illuminate the darkness.

Sailor Moon dried her eyes. According to some mental map in her head, she was somewhere in the woods behind the house. She did her best to move silently and blend with the darkness, not daring to power down. A wolf's howl rang out in the night. The blonde's heart froze in her chest. She'd come to know that howl well these past several hours. It was Maximus. If Maximus was still alive, then it was fairly safe to assume that Serenata was still around as well. She bowed her head. Saturn's sacrifice…everyone's sacrifices, had all been in vain. And now, only she was left. The girl shrank into the shadows, and searched for cover. If she could just last until the sun came up, she would be all right. Or so she told herself.

The blonde moved swiftly through the woods, being careful not to step on a twig and reveal her location. She couldn't afford that. Briefly, she wondered about her family. What would they think when they saw the charred house? Would they think she'd done it? No, most likely not. It was far more likely that they'd think of something that was closer to the truth; a homicidal maniac/arsonist had broken in and killed her, then burned the place down to hide the evidence. Morbidly, she wondered how long it would take the forensics team to realize that the charred remains were not those of Serena Tsukino, but of Renee Woods. What would be the new theory?

Maximus howled again, and he was closer this time. Serena pushed away the morbid thoughts, and ran lightly across the ground, praying to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, to bless her with silent footfalls. Her prayers were answered. She managed to remain unheard, but she still had to find cover. The silver moon's light shone down upon her in that instant, and she caught sight of the door she'd entered the tunnels through. It meant she would be forced to see the inert forms of the Inner Scouts, but she knew that she couldn't stay outside all night. She pulled the door open, and jumped, closing it behind her.

She landed in rubble, and moved quickly. The blonde tried not to look down, but she had to, in order to make sure she didn't step on her friends. They were deceased, but she could at least respect them enough not to walk on top of them. She exited the room without incident, and wandered about the tunnels, listening for signs of danger. Serena tried not to let the darkness and silence bother her, but it did. It reminded her that for the first time, she was completely and utterly alone.

Suddenly, she tripped over something. She looked around, and when she saw what it was, she let out an involuntary shriek. She'd tripped over Uranus. The blonde stumbled back in horror, holding back the screams that were trying to rip their way from her throat. The sky soldier's dark green eyes were staring blankly up at the ceiling, her face permanently frozen into a look of terror. That was horrible enough, but when she looked down and accidentally caught sight of what had ended her protector, Serena felt sick. Uranus had been disemboweled.

Sailor Moon leapt to her feet, and ran as far as she could, and promptly vomited onto the stone floor. Sobs forced their way out of her, and her breaths were fast and shallow. Once she'd stopped retching, she wiped her mouth, and tried to steady herself. She had to be strong and make it through this. If she could just make it through the night, she would be okay. Those were the words she kept murmuring to herself as she walked through the dark, dank labyrinth that had become her prison.

"Ah, what have we here, Maximus?" a voice behind her asked.

Sailor Moon whirled around to face Serenata.

The dark goddess was smiling triumphantly and stroking Maximus' back. "We've found the missing Moon Princess!"

Sailor Moon arranged her face into what she hoped was a calm expression, and replied, "Yeah, you found me! Nice job! And for a prize, you get to play another round of Hide-and-Seek!" With those words, she turned around and ran. That was really all she had the heart to do. She was sick at heart, and her stomach was still churning from the sight of Uranus' fate.

"You may run all you like, but you cannot flee forever. Soon, I will find you, and I shall have the Silver Crystal in my hands at last!" the witch called after her.

Serena ignored her, and continued to run. She focused on breathing in and out, until she could only see memories, and could only hear the sound of her own heart beating a quick, agitated rhythm. She'd thought she could not possibly shed any more tears, but she found that she could. The blonde felt their heat as she allowed herself to recall when she'd first met Uranus and Neptune. They'd been so distant and cold, so determined to save the world themselves. In the end, though, they'd joined the Inner Scouts and herself, and had become two of her most loyal protectors. Even more tears fell as she remembered how Pluto had almost killed them all when they'd first arrived at the Time Gate. That had been their first meeting face-to-face as well. Saturn…she'd saved Saturn from another death, despite what everyone else had believed. Saturn had been her daughter Rini's most loyal friend. Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter…the best friends a girl could have. They'd had their spats, but they had never let her down. Seiya…he was now frozen in time; along with Taiki and Yaten…she remembered when they'd fought together. Taiki and Yaten had been distrustful of them in the beginning, but they had become family to her. And like the rest of her family, they were gone. They weren't dead, but they might as well have been.

Suddenly, an arm grabbed her from the side. Serenata had caught her. With fear seeping through every particle of her being, the blonde looked her enemy dead in the eyes, and hissed, "Bitch!"

"I've found you, Serenity, as I promised. You could have made this much easier on yourself, rather than go through so much pain and loss," Serenata crooned condescendingly.

"And surrender such power to someone so evil? I think not. I'll not pay for your poor decisions," the blonde replied with as much dignity and poise as she could manage.

"You sound like Selene. You're clearly one of her children, that much is certain. They were proud and foolhardy as well."

"I'd rather be noble and foolish than immoral and wise."

"When will you realize that you've lost? Your protectors are all either dead or frozen; you have nothing!"

"I have my honor," the blonde replied, her eyes flashing. "Just as my guardians had honor!"

"Honor is an illusion, as well as faith and love. The only thing that exists is power."

"You sound like Voldemort…quit watching so many movies," the blonde replied saucily.

"I grow tired of your forced bravado and your sauce. It is time for you to join your friends."

"You can try." The blonde managed to call up enough strength to break free, and she fled, knowing that she was probably only delaying her fate. Nevertheless, she ran anyway, hoping that somehow, some way, she would find a way to save herself, defeat her enemy, and regain what she had lost. She heard Maximus pursuing her, and she ran even faster, praying that he would not overtake her. If there was one way she did not want to die, it was becoming Maximus' dinner. Maximus' jaws closed on her leg, and the blonde fell.

Serenata was at the wolf's side in an instant. "Well done, love," she said, scratching him lightly behind the ears. "You're a fine hunter."

Serena rested her head on the floor. She was trapped, and there was no way out. Maximus was too strong, and she was completely drained; physically, mentally, and emotionally. She had tried to be strong, but she had no strength left. She was strongest when she was not alone, and surrounded by people who loved her. "Forgive me," she whispered to her fallen friends. "I tried, but I'm not strong enough."

Serenata was now standing triumphantly over her. "So you see, Serenity; in the end, darkness always conquers the light."

"That's not true," the blonde whispered faintly. She felt so weak…

"Still trying to remain strong…you really are a fool."

"No…you're the fool…because you don't realize the strength that love and friendship can bring. You've become so twisted…you don't remember that Selene loved you…you were like one of her own daughters…"

"Do not speak of Selene to me, child!"

"You could have used your power to do good in the world rather than destroy it…" the blonde mused.

"What has the world ever given to me?"

"Life, the blue of the sky, the sound of the sea, and the feel of the wind."

"Those mean nothing."

"Then why do you hang on to life so tightly?"

"Enough." Serenata snapped her fingers, and Serena found herself silenced.

The blonde's eyes closed, and she sank beneath the dark waves of unconsciousness, into dreams of the ones she had lost. For once, they were peaceful, and held no cause for pain or tears. She was grateful for that.


	28. Act Twenty Seven

**Act Twenty Seven: Her Light Extinguished, the Moon Will Die…**

**AN:** There's some thought speak, and words spoken telepathically will be surrounded by these;

Sailor Moon awoke to find herself chained to what appeared to be a stone altar. She tried to move her arms, but the chains were too tight. The metal cut into her skin, and chafed her wrists. Dazedly, she wondered how she'd gotten there, and then she remembered the events of the past several hours. Now that she'd had what amounted to some sleep, she had the energy to shed more tears. All of her friends were dead, and the Starlights were frozen in time. The blonde struggled against her bonds, and the metal cuffs rubbed painfully against her skin, cutting into her wrists. She grimaced, but continued to struggle. She couldn't let everyone's sacrifices be in vain. A treacherous voice in the back of her mind told her that she'd already lost that battle, but she ignored it.

"Ah, you're awake!" Serenata's voice came from somewhere to the right.

Serena turned her head to look. Sure enough, her enemy was off to the side, a triumphant smile on her face. In her hand was a sinister-looking knife. Maximus was at his mistress' side, and if wolves were able to look triumphant, then Maximus certainly did. The blonde kept her face calm, and tried to control the panic that was steadily rising in her heart. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't calm herself, and she could find no escape. Unless she somehow managed to pull a Houdini, she was royally screwed.

"Nice décor," she managed to say. "Very gothic, very Edgar Allan Poe."

"Even in the face of death, you continue to make jokes. Do you think this is a game?"

"Do _you _think this is a game?" the blonde asked innocently.

"Never mind," the goddess snapped. "Soon, I will have the Silver Crystal, and you shall be dead."

"I've got news for you; I've died, like, three times already."

"I am aware that you were reincarnated. It was mere luck. I can promise you this; you will not be revived this time around."

"I wouldn't go making promises I couldn't keep if I were you."

"Do you know what is going to happen to you, Serenity?"

"You're going to take the Silver Crystal and rip my heart out."

"Did you know that your soul is bound to the Silver Crystal?"

Serena blinked. She hadn't heard about that. She knew that she would die if it was broken, and that it was insanely powerful, but that was about it.

"I see you did not. It is, and as long as your soul remains free, I will never be able to use it."

"Guess you're out of luck."

"Not quite…do you know of the dark gods I serve?"

Serena remained silent, knowing perfectly well that Serenata would answer her own question.

"Of course you don't. These gods have immense power, and they have given me the instructions for a ritual that will ensure that I have the Silver Crystal under my control. All they ask in return is your soul."

Serena felt her face pale. She'd seen enough horror movies to know what that meant. If this ritual happened, she would end up in Hell, or some other dark dimension. She would be doomed to an eternity of misery and torture. The worst part was that no one was around to stop this from happening but herself, and she couldn't even figure out how to free herself. She prayed to Selene. 'Goddess Selene, Mother Moon, aid your daughter in her darkest hour,' she prayed silently. She watched as the knife was set down.

Fear not, my daughter; I am here. Selene's voice spoke to her softly in her mind.

My soul is about to be claimed by gods of answered in the same silent way.

I know, my child. I am here to help.

What must I do?

As long as you do not let fear and pain overwhelm you, I can keep your soul from the dark reaches. The ritual will occur, but it will not succeed. I shall be with you the whole way. Listen to my voice, concentrate on it, and darkness will not touch you.

So I'll die, then.

I wish that it didn't have to be so, but even I cannot thwart the Fates. But I can prevent you from being taken by the dark gods. And fear not; you and your loved ones will meet again.

Will…will it hurt?

I will dull the pain. Now listen to me, my child…listen… Selene began softly singing a lullaby that Serena vaguely remembered hearing her mother Queen Selenity sing to her in the Silver Millenium.

Serena focused on Selene's sweet voice, and ignored the vile smells that were rising around her. Clearly, Serenata was boiling up some vile concoction or other. The blonde pushed the smell away, and concentrated on the soft voice of her mother goddess, trying to block everything else out. She could almost feel Selene holding her hand. Serenata moved around in the background, and there was a faint clatter. The blonde continued to focus on the sound of Selene's voice. She had to trust in her goddess. As long as she listened to Selene, the dark gods would never have her in their grasp.

Suddenly, a vile-tasting liquid was shoved roughly down her throat. The blonde coughed and gagged. As she did so, she temporarily lost focus, and she began to choke. Then, her airway was somehow cleared. Most likely, it was the work of Selene. The blonde turned her attention back to the gentle voice of Selene, the Lunarian words caressing her, and giving her a strange feeling of comfort, despite the horror of what was about to happen to her. From what seemed like a long way away, she could hear Serenata chanting in a harsh-sounding language, used only for the blackest rituals of old. Pain shrieked across her abdomen. Serenata was carving arcane symbols on her stomach. The same pain streaked up both of her arms and legs. The blonde focused even harder on Selene's voice. Fear was washing over her.

I'm with you, my dear. Selene whispered those reassuring words so gently that it was not at all difficult to believe her.

Another vile draft was forced down her throat, but Serena continued to focus on Selene's voice, and she stared fixedly at the stone ceiling above her, not looking at anything else. More pain, and except this time, it was in her chest area. Something else was being carved onto her body. The chains on her wrists and ankles seemed to constrict, cutting off circulation. A burning sensation was spreading through her body now, and it was growing steadily stronger, and harder to ignore. Nevertheless, Serena continued to focus on Selene's voice, still singing that strange, yet familiar lullaby. Shadows slowly clouded the blonde's vision, showing her frightening images. Serena held on to Selene's voice. As long as she could do that, those shadows would not touch her. She clutched an invisible hand, yet she could still feel Selene lightly squeeze it. The burning sensation had spread, and the pain became agonizing. Selene's singing became louder, and the blonde forced herself to focus, despite the pain that was trying to consume her. The shadows reached for her. She closed her eyes.

Hold on, my child. It will be over soon. I promise. Just listen to my voice.

Serena obeyed, and tried to block everything else out. Behind her closed lids, she could see Selene holding out her hand. She reached for it, still listening to her goddess' voice. The pain was worse than anything else she'd endured, but somehow, she still managed to hold on. Selene was closer now, and she could almost take the goddess' hand. She just had to go a little further…

Take my hand.

Serena obeyed, and she felt the knife cut into her chest, but Selene held fast to her hand, and the shadows trying to claim her screamed in rage and defeat. Then, she crossed into light.


	29. Act Twenty Eight

**Act Twenty Eight: Darkness Will Come Down Upon Us All…**

Serenata laughed in triumph as she brought the knife down and plunged it into the blonde's chest. It gave her a sort of sick pleasure as she watched the spark of life leave the Moon Princess' eyes. It was rather like watching the light of a fire be extinguished. It slowly faded from those cerulean blue eyes she hated. Those eyes had so reminded her of Selene, the one who had betrayed her. Finally, the Silver Crystal was hers, and she could restore Maximus to his original form. She was glad that she'd completely drained Adam of his energies; if she'd known it would be so easy, she would have done it far sooner. Oh, well, it was pointless dwelling on the past. Besides, it was over now. The Moon Princess' guardians were all dead or frozen in time, and now the last descendant of her greatest foe was dead. She now had everything she'd ever wanted.

Smiling, Serenata set the knife down and went to snatch the Silver Crystal. But when she saw the brooch, she let out a scream of fury. The Silver Crystal was gone! But how could it be gone? She'd done everything her dark masters had told her to do; she'd followed their instructions to the letter! But somehow, she'd been thwarted. She looked at Maximus, who was wearing a look that, had he been human, would have been sulky, or possibly worse than that. It was a look of unforgiving reproach. She'd failed him. The black wolf turned his back on her.

"Maximus, please. Give me some time…perhaps it fell and landed somewhere," she pleaded. The dark goddess knelt and began to search the floor for her only hope. It wasn't there.

"Serenata, you have failed us," came an unforgiving voice from the shadows.

The dark goddess paled and scrambled to her feet. It couldn't be, but it was. Thanatus, the Harbinger of Death, had arrived. Serenata trembled in the presence of Thanatus, the cruelest of her dark masters. Maximus whined uneasily, and Serenata took a protective stance in front of him. "Forgive me, my lord," she managed to say in a trembling voice. "I know not how I failed you; you have the Moon Princess' soul."

"No, we do not. Selene stole her from us."

"Selene! I might have known."

"You failed to deliver us the souls of the other children of Selene as well. Our patience…and our tolerance, has worn out."

"Please, my lord! Forgive me for my failure! I know not how Selene claimed her soul when I followed your instructions to the letter!"

"You underestimated your captive, Serenata. We have warned you about that in the past. You failed to heed our advice, and once again, you have failed."

"Grant me one last chance! Or at the very least, tell me the whereabouts of the Silver Crystal!"

"It is with Selene as well. This was your last chance, Serenata. You are deeply in our debt, and you are no longer able to pay the price. You are useless to us now." The god faded into the shadows.

Serenata collapsed on the floor in a heap, and wept. Her last hope was gone; stolen by Selene, and her masters had abandoned her. There was no telling how they would punish her. She had failed them sorely in the past, but had always shown mercy. There would be no more mercy. She had failed them for the last time. Selene had won, after all. Maximus whined, and Serenata turned. Slowly, the black wolf sank to the ground, and before she could get to his side, he was dead.

The dark goddess then let out a wail of pure grief and rage. She rose in fury, her dark eyes blazing with wrath. Tenderly, she stroked Maximus' fur, and stormed from the room. She rose from the pits in which she had been trapped for so long, and faced the rising sun. Her powers still remained strong; she'd lost everything, all because of the cruel world. It was time for the world to pay her back. She raised her arms, and the sun was eclipsed. Serenata wished to bring about the end of the world.

Flames rose from the earth, scorching everything in their path, and the dark sky turned blood red. Locusts swarmed across the planet, destroying all things. The water turned black, and no one dared to drink of it. Demons rose from the soil and the depths of the ocean. The creatures stormed every town and city they came across, killing and burning without a care. Within mere hours, the streets ran red with blood, and it was clear to all that the Apocalypse had begun.


	30. Act Twenty Nine

**Act Twenty Nine: But Then, the Unquiet Ones Will Come…**

**AN:** I just went 21 straight hours without sleep, so sorry if this chapter is not up to the usual standard.

Adam stirred, fighting back the waves of fatigue that were crashing down on him. As he forced himself to his feet, he realized that he still had not crossed over into the light as he should have done centuries ago. The boy looked around, and realized that he was not alone. Thousands, women and children, men and boys, were with him. Some of them he knew, and he remembered that their lives had been cruelly cut short by the power of the witch that had once terrorized his home. She'd completely drained him of his energies, so why was he still here?

"It is time," a young woman told him, as if in answer to his unasked question.

"Time for what?" Adam was confused.

"It is time for us to carry out the Fates' wishes, and finally be allowed to rest."

"How are we to do this? The witch has god-like power, and what are we? Ghosts, spirits. We're dead. What can we who are dead do to stop her?"

"The dark gods she serves have turned against her. They will not keep her from death any longer we must take her to the very depths of Tartarus, as has been foretold."

"How did this become necessary? Surely the Moon Princess and her guardians will not allow anything to happen-."

"The Moon Princess and her guardians are all dead," the young woman answered. "As far as we know, all of their souls have been claimed by the dark gods."

Adam sank to his knees. He'd once caught a glimpse of the Moon Princess' power, when the witch had first tried to take her. That had given him hope, for her light had been so bright and pure. That clearly hadn't been enough. The witch's dark power had eclipsed even that brightest of lights. Now, there was not even that. The world was completely at that monster's mercy. The wolf would be restored to his human form, and the world would be forever shrouded by darkness. Clearly, Armageddon had come to pass.

"What must we do?" the young woman asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Adam inquired.

"Long have we awaited the one who can lead us. You are our leader, and therefore, you must lead this final charge, that we may rest in peace at last."

"I don't know what to do," he confessed.

"You will know in time. But first, you must gather your strength, that you may be able to see that we complete this final task."

Adam was silent for several moments. Finally, he spoke. "We must all gather our strength," he declared. "Then, we shall rise from this place, and we shall bring this evil to justice."

Murmurings of approval rose from the crowd of unquiet spirits, and then a cheer rang out. The Unquiet Ones were pleased. Finally, after so long a wait, they would be free. They obeyed their leader, and rallied, gathering up all of the strength they possessed as a group. They numbered somewhere in the hundred thousands. There were enough of them to form several battalions at the very least. They were a vast army. Certainly, they were dead, but even those who are dead have battles to fight. Adam gathered his strength, and regarded his army. They would do, for how could one kill another who was already dead?

"Let us go," he said calmly. "It is time to put an end to this darkness."

A ghostly cheer sounded through the mass of trapped souls, and they all rose to the surface. Adam was at their head, his resolve growing and hardening with every moment that passed. Darkness had ruled them for far too long…it was time to fight back, and reclaim their right to rest in peace. As he caught sight of the state of the world, his eyes blazed. He turned to his army.

"Look around," he ordered.

They all obeyed, and angry whispers spread across the battalions.

"This is what our enemy is capable of. Should she be allowed to get away with this?"

"No," they replied as one.

"Does this not merit heavy punishment? Is this crime not worthy of eternal torment? What say you?"

"Yes. She must be punished."

"Does anyone think otherwise?"

More whispers spread through the army, growing stronger and more intense. Finally; "No."

"Very well, then. Let us end this."

A ghastly cheer rose from the crowd, and the ghostly army swarmed over the globe, a crowd of misty gray figures. Their faces all held resolve, and their eyes burned with righteous rage. The witch sensed them, and turned. When she saw what was coming for her, she grew pale, and knew that her time was almost up. She was outnumbered, and her powers were nearly spent. There was no way she could pacify these souls; there was no way to banish them. All she could do was wait.


	31. Act Thirty

**Act Thirty: And Bring About the Evil's Fall…**

The ghostly army headed straight for Serenata. The dark goddess felt true terror set in, and she knew that she had made a mistake. Her gods had turned their backs on her, and she was left defenseless against this terrible army. No knowledge of magic that she possessed would save her from the spirits of the ones she had wronged. No magic in the universe could save her from the Unquiet Ones. She had destroyed the balance of the universe, and now she would have to pay the price.

Nevertheless, the witch dared to try and stand against the army. She raised her arms and spoke a word of great power that she had learned from Circe. It hit her target, but the masses kept racing for her. Even if she managed to destroy a few of them, they would still keep coming. Serenata turned and fled. Even though she knew she was lost, she was still determined that there must be a way she could escape her fate. As a goddess, she was all too aware that the Fates always got what they desired, no matter how hard one worked to thwart them. She looked over her shoulder.

The ghost army was still coming. At their head, she realized, was Adam. The sight made her give an involuntary shudder. What had she done? How could she have made such a mistake? Had she realized that it would come to this? No, she realized. She'd been careless, and that carelessness had cost her everything. She'd lost the Silver Crystal and Maximus, and now, she herself was about to be pulled to Tartarus, doomed to eternal torture and misery. And it was all because she had underestimated her enemies.

"No, you have lost sight of the love given you," a soft voice told her.

Serenata turned, feeling horror set in as she realized whose voice that was. "Selene," she choked out. She regarded the goddess of the moon with a mixture of fear, awe, hatred, and a small amount of admiration. In that moment, it was as though time had stopped. There was only herself and Selene. The ghostly army was no concern of hers; it was as though an invisible barrier had formed between her and them.

"Yes, it is I. I have come to offer hope, a chance for redemption, and love, if you desire."

"I want nothing from you."

"Will you at least listen to me, and hear what I have to say before you make your decision?"

"If you insist," Serenata muttered. It wasn't like she had much choice.

"It does not have to end this way, Serenata. You can still earn redemption, and escape Tartarus. All you need to do is let go of all your grievances and let your heart show you what you have missed. I will plead your case to Zeus, and you will be able to live comfortably and happily."

"I have missed nothing. My heart belongs to Maximus. It always has, and it always will. And my grievances? You consider them to be mere grievances. I consider them great wrongs. The Titans destroyed my mother, and sent my dear father—yes, he was dear to me, cowardly though he was—to his grave! Nothing can make up for that! And then, you took Maximus from me! Finally, you also took my last hope of saving him! And now he, too, is gone!" Tears streamed from the dark goddess' eyes.

Selene looked at her with pity and gentleness. "You know that I could not allow my child's soul to be taken by the dark gods," she replied softly. "Maximus' death was not my doing. It was the work of Thanatus. I would never have done that, despite his crime against me."

"What wrong has he done you?" Serenata screeched.

"Do you not remember why he was turned into a wolf?"

Serenata lowered her eyes as she recalled the memory, and realized that Selene had a point. She sank to her knees. She had nothing left for her. One thing was for certain; she wanted nothing to do with the gods of Olympus or Selene. The more sensible part of her told her to reconsider, but her pride was far stronger. "Leave me," she snarled. "Go. I want nothing from you." She glared at her fellow goddess.

Selene's eyes were sad. "Very well. I cannot force you to do anything you do not wish to do. I can only hope that you don't come to regret your choice." She disappeared.

Time started again, and the army of ghosts crashed down on Serenata. The dark goddess screamed in fear, and realized her mistake. She cried out to Selene to save her, but the goddess of the moon did not heed her cries. The ghosts had a firm, unbreakable grip on her, and no matter how she struggled, she could not free herself. The goddess wept tears of regret, fear, and despair, still crying out for help. Unfortunately, she had turned her back on the one who would have saved her. No one heeded her, and she was dragged to the deepest pit of Tartarus. When they reached that dreadful place, she was forced to face Adam.

The young man regarded her coldly. "Did I not warn you that in the end, evil would always lose?" he asked.

Serenata lowered her eyes. "Yes," she answered in a whisper.

"I warned you, Selene warned you, and still, you did not listen. Now, you must pay the price."

With those words, Serenata was flung into the darkness, and into a world of pain and fire.


	32. Act Thirty One

**Act Thirty One: Finally, They Shall Rest in Peace…**

Adam watched Serenata fall, and then, when she finally faded into the distance, he turned to face his army. All of them were triumphant. Adam himself could not help but feel a sense of relief that it was all over. The battle was won, but one task remained. They needed to see that the spells the witch had cast were no longer in effect. He knew perfectly well that none of them would rest peacefully if the world was still in danger.

"My friends," he began. "You have all done well. Thanks to your efforts and bravery, the witch is defeated."

Cheers rose from the ghostly crowd.

"However, we have one other task to accomplish. We must see to it that demons no longer walk through our world. We must make sure that her magic has no further effects. You all know that we will never have true rest until we have seen for ourselves that the world is safe again. What say you?"

"You speak the truth," the crowd murmured.

"Very well, then. Let us leave this place, and ensure that the light has truly overcome the dark."

The ghosts returned to the world, and smiled with pleasure and relief. The fires had gone out, and the water was pure once again. Locusts no longer plagued anything or anyone. The demons that Serenata had summoned were gone, and the earth had already begun to heal itself. The sun was rising in the east, and on the horizon, one could see the souls of the guardians of Terra, the Sol Senshi, returning to this world, once again ready to guard the world and their Princess from evil.

Adam smiled, nodded to his comrades, and faced the sun. All of the other Unquiet Ones did likewise. Together as one, they crossed into the light. Their ghostly, misty gray forms dissolved in the rays of the sun, and all nature looked on in wonder. The gods smiled on them, and the once unquiet ghosts were finally granted their wish for peace and eternal rest.

Zeus turned to Selene and nodded, granting her permission to heal the last of the damage done by Serenata. Smiling brilliantly, the moon goddess released the shining star in her hand, and it flew off into the sky to rejoin with its mistress. Once that was done, she turned to Chronos, the god of time, and asked him to do something for her. Once he heard her request, he nodded, and disappeared to carry it out. Selene turned her face back to the earth, and watched the events that were beginning to unfold. She couldn't bring herself to look towards Tartarus. The fair-haired goddess brushed away a tear at the thought of Serenata, but she smiled as she watched all of the damage that had been done be reversed.


	33. Act Thirty Two

**Act Thirty Two: Where's Serena?**

**AN: **Think about it…who's been put to sleep, figuratively speaking?

Fighter woke up in a cold sweat, gasping. She bit back the sobs that were forcing their way out of her, and brushed away tears. The dark-haired girl looked around; taking in the sight of the stone chamber she was in. Memories rushed into her mind, and she leapt to her feet. Shards of ice lay all around her, and Maker and Healer were just now coming to. They'd been fighting some dark goddess, and they'd been frozen or something. The gods knew how long they'd been here. How long had it been? Months, years, decades? Fighter shuddered. While she'd been frozen, horrible dreams had plagued her. Images of her Odango hurting, alone, and scared still raced through her mind in all of their awful, vivid, terrifying glory.

Healer and Maker jerked awake more or less the same way Fighter had. They were disoriented for a moment, and then they remembered what had happened. Clearly, they'd been plagued by dream as well; Maker's eyes were tortured, and Healer's eyes held a deep, intense worry and fear. Both looked at Fighter with expressions of horror. What had they missed? What if Serenata had won? Were the girls all right? Fighter frantically searched the room for a way out, but could find nothing. She looked to Maker, who had just as much success.

"Oh, gods! What are we going to do?" Healer said frantically. Her worry for Venus was so strong that it was having an effect on all of her involuntary functions. Her heart was pounding in her chest, threatening to leap out, her eyes were dilated, and she was breathing harder than necessary for one standing still.

"Healer, calm down. If you don't, you'll pass out, and you won't be able to help Venus," Maker advised, despite the fact that her face was haggard with worry for Mercury.

Healer slowed her breathing, and managed to calm herself slightly. The green-eyed girl looked at Fighter. The dark-haired girl's eyes blazed with agony. Her face was more or less calm, but her eyes spoke volumes. Healer placed a hand on her should in an effort to reassure her. Fighter managed a strained smile, but they all knew that she was just as worried as they were. How were they going to get out of here, and, more importantly, where were the girls? Were they hurt, dying? Already dead?

"Fear not," a man's voice sounded behind them.

All three whirled around and faced him, taking a defensive stance. "Who are you?" Healer demanded.

"I am Chronos, the god of time. I was sent here to release you from your imprisonment by Selene. Fear not; you have been here for only a matter of days, and you shall be out of here shortly."

"Is Venus all right?" Healer blurted.

"All of the Sailor Scouts are returning as we speak."

"Returning?"

"You shall see once you are freed." With that, Chronos disappeared, and the stone chamber was gone as well.

Instead, they were standing in the charred remains of what had once been the basement of Serena's new home. And in the midst of it all stood Sailor Sun. The redhead was swearing and rubbing her chest as though it hurt. Fighter looked around with a certain amount of horror. What had happened? She searched the area frantically, searching for some glimpse of her Odango.

Just then, Sailor Sun saw them. "You guys are back," she whispered in shock. Then, she smacked herself. "Well, of course you're back! If I can come back to life after taking a dagger to the heart, you guys can be unfrozen!" She shook her head, ridiculing herself.

Fighter stopped her. "Wait, a dagger? Is Od—I mean, Serena, okay?"

"I think she is. She was with the Inners and Outers last time I saw her."

"What were you saying earlier about taking a dagger to the heart?"

"I died. But somehow, I'm back."

"Listen, we need to find the others. Do you know where they might have gone?"

"Well, Serena mentioned some secret passages in the pantry…maybe that's where they are."

All three Starlights took off running. Sailor Sun followed. Sure enough, a door had been blasted open, and they all ran in. They came to a chamber that appeared to have collapsed, and coughing and crawling out of the rubble was Mercury. Maker was at her side in an instant, helping her out. The blue haired-girl sank into her arms, exhausted. Maker held on to her tightly, checking for injuries and silently thanking all of the gods that Mercury was safe.

"What happened?" the violet-eyed girl asked softly.

"Serenata killed Renee and caused the basement to go up in smoke, so we came here," Mercury answered faintly. "She followed us, and this whole room fell on us. I told Serena to get the Outers and get out of here. The rest of us stayed…" she started coughing.

Maker rubbed her back. So the Inners had died as well, she thought absently. This wasn't good. The possibility of finding Serena alive was becoming worse by the minute. But if one factored in the mysterious resurrection of Renee, there was still plenty of hope. Still, if Serena had fallen into Serenata's clutches and something had happened, it would kill Fighter. Healer gasped. Maker turned.

The silver-haired girl was pulling Venus out of the rubble, and the hyper blonde was alive. Healer was crying tears of joy and relief, but was also trying to hide them. That proved to be impossible, as she couldn't bring herself to let go of Venus long enough to quickly brush them away. Venus was clinging to Healer as though her life depended on it. She was crying, too. Healer had her arms around her and was reassuring her that she was really and truly there.

Fighter had managed to dig Mars and Jupiter out of the rubble. It appeared that whatever had resurrected Sailor Sun had also saved the Inners, a fact for which they were all grateful. The dark-haired Starlight kept her facial expression neutral, but she was struggling against the tides of fear and worry for her Odango that threatened to overwhelm her. She was glad that the Inners were all right, and that Sailor Sun was alive and well, but she would have been happier if Odango had been here.

"Did Serena make it out of here all right?" Jupiter asked.

Mercury replied, "She got out with the Outers."

"And so did Serenata," Mars added grimly.

The rest of them visibly paled, and Fighter couldn't suppress a noise of distress. Mercury looked at her, and stated, "I'm sure they're fine, though. We always make it out all right in the end." She said this for Fighter's sake; the dark-haired girl was mere steps away from a total meltdown. She really wasn't sure if any of them were all right.

"We need to find them," Fighter stated, and immediately started moving back into the tunnels. The rest of them followed, and Maker and Healer exchanged worried looks. They'd gotten lucky so far, but things were really not looking good. For one thing, Healer couldn't sense Serena's shine. It hadn't gone out; it simply wasn't where it was supposed to be. She hadn't mentioned this to anyone, but she feared what it might mean. Maker could sense how trouble Mercury was, and she knew that things had to have been bad if Serena had been left to the protection of the Outers. It was common knowledge that those four were stronger than the Inners. If not even the Outers could fight this enemy, there was no telling what had become of the Moon Princess.

As they turned a corner, Fighter collided with Pluto. As they took in the sight of the time soldier, the group couldn't help but collectively gasp. The Guardian of Time looked like pure crap. Her uniform was torn and bloody, and she was covered in bruises and cuts. Her eyes held fear and worry. The others were nowhere to be seen. As soon as she had recognized them, the time soldier asked frantically, "Where are the others?"

"We don't know. What happened?" Mars asked.

"Serenata came after us. I should be dead, considering the curse she used on me. Correction; I _was_ dead, but by some strange power, I've been resurrected."

Fighter was growing paler. The others had died as well, but what if her Odango had died and it was impossible to bring her back? What if, somehow, she'd been captured by Serenata and been completely destroyed? She forced herself not to think about that. It wasn't helping her; it was only making it harder. She was worried enough as it was; she didn't need to add more weight thinking about what _could_ happen.

Just then, Uranus and Neptune came tearing through the tunnels. Uranus' Senshi uniform was torn and bloody in the abdominal area, and she was favoring her left leg. Neptune seemed fine, but a hand was over her heart, much in the same manner as Renee. Saturn was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Serena. Both froze when they took in the sight of the ones they'd believed dead. Pluto noticed that the two were missing, and she seemed to grow more agitated. The other two Outers were temporarily paralyzed by shock.

"Where is the Princess?" Pluto asked.

The other two shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know. "She was with Saturn," Neptune replied.

"And Serenata?"

"Disemboweled me," Uranus answered. "She killed Neptune, too."

Pluto was now on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Fighter's skin was completely void of color, and her eyes burned with agony. The Inners had looks of fear on their faces, and the silence was deafening. Uranus' eyes held regret, and Neptune kept looking over her shoulder every few seconds as if expecting the two missing girls to show up any minute now. Healer and Maker were trying to calm Mercury and Venus while watching Fighter worriedly. Things were looking grim, and neither of them knew how Fighter would react if this ended badly. It was bad enough seeing her so distressed. It would be unbearable to witness her pain if something had happened.

Suddenly, Saturn burst in. The small girl was wild-eyed and frantic. She didn't look as bad as the rest of the Outers, but she was still disheveled, and even worse, Serena was not with her. Pluto put on her customary calm face and asked softly, "Where is Serena?"

"I don't know!" the girl wailed. I tried to stop Serenata with my powers, but I don't think it worked!"

Uranus sank down against a wall, breathing heavily. Her face was haggard with worry. Neptune was pale, and tears were shining in her eyes. If Saturn had been forced to use her deadliest power, and event that had failed, Serena had been alone and defenseless. Pluto was breathing harder than normal, and was trying to calm herself. Fighter's knees buckled, and she would have fallen if Healer hadn't supported her. Mercury was trembling, and Venus burst into tears. Mars walked over to a wall and banged her head against it several times before Jupiter pulled her away.

'Come on, Serena,' Healer pleaded silently. 'Walk in here. Any minute now.'

Serena didn't appear. They all feared the worst, but the question on all their lips was 'Where's Serena?'


	34. Act Thirty Three

**Act Thirty Three: Fallen Angel**

**AN: **Hmm…what happens next?

After the initial shock had worn off, all of them immediately began to search for Serena. Fighter quietly went off on her own while the others were discussing how they were going to split up. The dark-haired girl didn't want to waste time arguing over who was going to partner up with who. That time was better spent trying to find her Odango, and if she had to do it alone; so be it. She moved silently and swiftly through the tunnels, scanning her surroundings for any sign of the missing girl. Faintly, she could hear her comrades calling her, but she ignored them. She had to find Serena. If she found her, she could make sure that that beautiful shine never went out.

The dark-haired girl moved more and more deeply into the tunnels, her eyes scanning the darkness for danger or clues to Serena's whereabouts. As she walked, she recalled the dreams she'd been unable to escape while she'd been imprisoned. Those had been horrible; in them, her Odango was lying on the ground, still and silent, her beautiful blue eyes staring blankly up at the sky, blood staining her fair skin…Fighter shuddered. The images that those memories brought were unbearable; what would she do if those had a ring of truth to them? She pushed those morbid thoughts away and tried to recall the good times.

Fighter smiled as she recalled the day they'd met. Serena had been trying to sneak past her to catch a glimpse of some actress. Said actress had had her Starseed taken from her. Maker, Healer, and herself had come on the scene, but Serena as Sailor Moon had convinced them to let her try to heal the Phage. It had worked. She remembered the time she'd revealed herself as Fighter, and when she'd found out Serena was Sailor Moon. That had been interesting to say the least. Of course, she'd suspected it briefly, but she'd dismissed the thought. Maker and Healer had both been freaked out and distrustful. Mostly, she'd been worried about Serena and wondering how someone who so detested violence had become a Sailor Senshi. It hadn't made sense. It still didn't. Fighter's eyes darkened with sadness as she recalled that Serena hadn't had a choice. Her Odango, even after the battle with Chaos, had still somehow managed to remain sweet, pure, and full of light. It was beautiful, so much so that it brought tears to her eyes.

The dark-haired girl brushed them away, and told herself to stay focused. She could relax and go down memory lane later. Right now, she had to find her blonde goddess. Abruptly, she came to an ancient stone door with a sinister-looking pentagram carved upon it. Something told her she shouldn't go in there, but she had to make sure that no stone went unturned. As she touched it, she pulled her hand back suddenly. Somehow, she could sense that the light of a star had been eclipsed in this place. Nevertheless, she forced down the sudden burst of fear, and began to push the door open. It was heavy; Fighter had to exert every ounce of muscle she had to move the thing. Finally, she managed to get it open and walked in. As she took in the sight in front of her, her heart turned to ice in her chest.

A stone altar stood in the middle of the room. That wasn't the problem. The problem was what was on the altar. A blonde girl, no older than sixteen, lay there, chained. Red blood flowed down the sides of the altar. It had been spilled recently. Arcane symbols and signs of seriously black magic had been carved into the girl's flesh. Her hair was styled in two buns on top of her head. As Fighter looked more closely, she felt sick. Serena's heart had been removed.

The dark-haired girl sank to her knees, her heart screaming that she wasn't really seeing this, that this wasn't her Odango. An anguished moan left her, and tears burned in the backs of her eyes. Her hands curled into fists, and she closed her eyes, denial whispering to her. This wasn't her Odango…but it was. She didn't know any other petite blondes with that hairstyle. Tears streamed from her eyes as she opened them and took in the full picture.

Serena was chained to the altar, her blood staining the stone. Her long, flowing golden hair spilled over the sides. Her transformation had come undone, and now flowed about her in the form of incandescent ribbons that still glowed. Those horrid symbols had been cruelly carved into her delicate skin. She'd been killed ritualistically. Those brilliant blue eyes were closed, and would never open again. The blonde's face was oddly peaceful. It didn't appear that she had suffered. Perhaps she had been relieved to die. Despite this horrible sight, Fighter found herself lightly stroking the blonde's face, as though she was just sleeping.

"Odango, speak to me," Fighter pleaded, her voice choked by sobs. "Wake up. Please, wake up!"

Serena remained silent and still.

Fighter collapsed into a heap. The pain that was filling her heart was overwhelming. Like a fire, it was red-hot and burning, yet it crashed over her in waves like an ocean. The noir-haired girl closed her eyes, and tears spilled from behind her closed lid as she wept for her fallen angel, and the brightest light. She just lay there on the floor, weeping. Even so, the pain still lapped at her, trying to get out in any way possible, and finally, a scream ripped its way from her throat. The scream was one of pain, grief, rage and sheer anguish. Then, all was silent.


	35. Act Thirty Four

**Act Thirty Four: The Brightest Light**

**AN: **Wow, what's taking so long to wrap this story up? Keep reading, guys.

Healer walked through the dark tunnels with Venus at her side. She searched the tunnels for Serena, but she was also worrying about Fighter. Serena was still missing, and the longer it took them to find her, the worse the chances of finding her alive got. The blonde's shine hadn't gone out, exactly, but it wasn't where it should have been. According to what her sensory powers were telling her, Serena's light was in an in-between place, somewhere between life and death. It was strange and more than slightly disturbing. The silver-haired girl looked at Venus, who was looking more and more anxious with every minute that passed.

"Don't worry, it'll be all right," Healer told her. She didn't know this for certain, not by a long shot, but she had to do something to reassure the hyper, intensely emotional blonde.

Suddenly, a scream reverberated through the tunnels, and Healer felt her heart skip two beats. She wasn't sure how she knew, but her heart told her that Fighter was the one screaming. That single scream held raw, simple grief. The mere fact that Fighter could even make such a sound was horrible, but what made it even more so was that only one thing would cause the dark-haired girl to scream like that. Healer's hand flew to her heart, and Venus' face was horrorstruck. The goddess of love and beauty had no idea who had screamed, but she knew that something dreadful had happened. Healer took off running in the direction of Fighter's scream. She had to make sure that Venus wasn't exposed to a sight that would surely shatter her heart.

The silver-haired girl ran through the tunnels until she came to a door that was opened slightly. It had a sinister-looking symbol etched on it, like an upside-down star. She couldn't remember exactly what it was called, but she was pretty sure it started with a 'p'. Cautiously, Healer entered, and searched the shadows of the room. She didn't notice the center of it at first. Instead, she saw Fighter lying in a heap on the floor, sobbing. At first, Healer wondered if Serenata had attacked, but then she realized that if that had been the case, Fighter would most likely be dead. Feeling her heart growing cold, she turned to face the center of the room. The horrible sight made a gasp escape her lips.

"Oh, God…no. No…oh, no…no, _no_…" Healer's hand flew to her heart as she took in what she was seeing. It was too horrible…no one deserved this. No one…least of all Serena. Now the silver-haired girl knew what had caused Fighter to scream that terrible scream, and she realized what true evil was. What had been done to Serena was too horrible to contemplate; barbaric, heinous, obscene. Healer was completely speechless, and she felt numb. The numbness quickly dissolved into anger, and anger turned to grief. 'Oh, stars! Who would do this? How am I going to tell Venus? Oh, gods…no one should have this happen to them…what monster would do something like this to Serena?' was what ran through Healer's mind.

Venus' voice from the tunnels rang out; "Healer, are you okay?"

No, she was not okay. She couldn't let Venus see this; it would destroy her! Healer moved in front of the opening, blocking Venus' view of the inside. She had to remain calm. She had to protect Venus from this horror. She'd been through enough already. The silver-haired girl tried to remain composed, but she trembled. The brightest light in the galaxy had gone out, and Serena had been slain in one of the most brutal, profane ways possible. Healer could barely find words to speak, and she knew that she was white as a sheet.

Venus took one look at her and asked, "What happened? Did Serenata attack? Did you find Serena? Is she in there?" The hyper blonde tried to peer over Healer's shoulder, but the silver-haired girl stopped her. Venus looked into her face, and read the sadness in her eyes. Then, more softly, she asked, "What happened?"

Healer took a deep breath. Then, she took another breath, and was silent for a long time. Then, in the gentlest tone Venus had ever heard her use, said; "We found Serena."

"But?" the blonde asked.

"She's gone, Venus," the green-eyed girl spoke gently.

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?" Venus' voice was shaking, and her eyes were filling with tears. "What happened?"

Healer shook her head. "You don't want to know. You're better off not knowing."

"That scream…was that Serena?"

"No…it was Fighter. She got here before any of us…she's the one who found Serena."

"Let me see her," Venus spoke softly, but it was clearly an order.

Healer knew what she was asking, but she couldn't let Venus see the atrocities that had been done to Serena. "No," the silver-haired girl said quietly, her voice firm.

"Yes," Venus insisted, and tried to shove her way through.

Healer placed both hands on the goddess of love and beauty's shoulders in gentle restraint. "Venus…trust me. It's not how you would want to remember her."

Tears spilled from the blonde's eyes. "Healer, please. Let me see her," she begged.

About that time, Maker and Mercury came running. Mercury took one look at Venus and asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Healer shook her head, her face white. Her hands were clenched into fists, and she trembled with some undeterminable emotion. Fighter was nowhere to be seen. Maker could tell from her comrade's face that something horrible had happened. She, too, had heard Fighter's scream, and knew what it meant, but she was afraid to tell Mercury. She didn't want to tell the blue-haired girl until it was absolutely certain. The violet-eyed girl moved past Venus, and exchanged a look with Healer. Still blocking Venus from entering, Healer let Maker pass.

Maker took one look at the scene inside, and closed her eyes. She saw Fighter lying in defeat, shattered and broken beyond all repair, saw what remained of Serena, and almost cried. It was horrible seeing her friend like that, but even worse seeing what had been done to Serena. Pure, sweet, innocent Serena…she couldn't let Mercury see her best friend like this. The chestnut girl walked out, her face calm and composed, but, like Healer's, void of color. Mercury became pale, and she walked over to Maker.

"Maker, be honest with me. What's happened?" the ice soldier pleaded.

"Fighter found Serena," Maker said softly.

"And?" Mercury's eyes were bright with unshed tears; she knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry. She's gone."

"H-h-how?" the blue-haired girl choked out.

"It appears that she was…sacrificed in some way. For what purpose, I don't know."

Mercury started sobbing, and Maker pulled her into her arms. Even as she tried to comfort the ice soldier, tears fell from her eyes. The intelligent Starlight cried for Fighter, Serena, and all that had been lost. Venus quickly dissolved into tears, and Healer was trying to comfort her, but even the often cynical Starlight could not help but weep. Both of the leather-clad Senshi continued to block Serena's body from view, trying to protect the ones they loved from a heart-shattering sight. Fighter had not been spared, but Mercury and Venus could be.

About that time, Uranus and Pluto arrived. Uranus took one look at the weeping Mercury and Venus, and shoved her way past Maker and Healer, Pluto behind her. As soon as the sky soldier walked in, her eyes fell on what had become of her Princess. As her dark green eyes trailed over Serena's inert form, rage rose in her heart, and bile rose in her throat. Her trembling hands became fists, and a scream of fury came rushing out of her. Then, she walked out, and in a perfectly calm, yet deadly voice, asked, "Where's Serenata?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"No one knows? It looks like I'll have to hunt that bitch down. When I find her, I will rip her heart out, and she will pay, after she returns our Princess to us," she growled.

"I'm afraid that is not possible," Pluto said shakily from the doorway. She, too, had seen Serena, and she knew what the arcane symbols cruelly etched upon her body meant. "Her soul has been offered to the dark gods."

Uranus turned white. "Are you sure?"

"I am absolutely certain. Unless a miracle occurred at the time of her death, her soul has been condemned to eternal torment and suffering."

Venus gasped, and sobbed even harder, and Mercury buried her face in Maker's chest, trembling. Healer stared at Pluto in horror, and her eyes wandered to Fighter, who still lay in a sobbing heap. Maker's eyes filled with pain as she realized that Serena's fate had been one far worse than death, and that it would be impossible to save her from it. She wondered how they were going to get through this, and whether Fighter would survive losing Serena.

A soft, warm light formed down at the beginning of the tunnel, a small pinpoint of brightness in the dark. All of them looked up, except for Fighter, who had sunk so deeply into her grief that nothing could rouse her. The light came closer, and grew steadily brighter. As the rays of light fell upon the grieving Senshi, the pain in their hearts was eased somewhat, and it was like all of them could feel Serena's presence and see her warm, healing smile. The light paused before the door, and began to spin slowly. It began to resemble a flower bud, and slowly blossomed into a lovely flower. It shone with silver light, and glimmered like a diamond. Pluto gasped in wonder and awe as she realized what it was. The Silver Crystal was still whole and pure. Somehow, her Princess had been spared the darkness of Serenata's black gods, and she was now returning to them.

The Silver Crystal hovered outside the door for a moment, and then floated inwards, its glow growing ever brighter. Briefly, it hovered over Serena's chest, then took its place as the heart of its fallen mistress. The light grew dimmer then, and slowly, the warm glow faded out, shrouding them all in darkness once again. Uranus felt her heart freeze in her chest. Was this the end, then? Was her kitten truly gone? Had the Silver Crystal only returned to join its mistress in death? She looked to Pluto, silently begging her to do something. The time soldier shook her head sadly. She could do nothing.

Suddenly, light began to emulate from Serena's inert form. As the light washed over her, the arcane symbols were cleared from her skin, with not even a scar left behind. The gaping wound in her chest healed, and the crescent moon insignia glowed brightly on her forehead. The blonde gasped, and her eyes flew open. She looked around, disoriented, and struggled against the chains that bound her. Uranus, tears of joy spilling from her eyes, moved to her side and broke the chains. Then, Serena found herself the recipient of a massive hug.

The Moon Princess returned the hug, smiling brightly at all of them. Her smiled dimmed as she noticed Fighter's form, slumped in defeat. She quietly slid off the altar. Her legs buckled, threatening to give out. Uranus steadied her, and gently helped her to Fighter's side. The blonde girl knelt beside the fallen Starlight, and softly pressed her lips to the dark head. Fighter stirred then, and turned her face upwards. When she saw Serena, she lightly caressed the blonde's face.

"Is this a dream?" she murmured.

"No, Fighter. I'm here."

"I saw you lying there…what Serenata did to you…"

"Serenata is no longer a problem."

"What do you mean?" Mercury asked. "Isn't she still here?"

"No. She has finally been brought to justice for her crimes. The spirits of all of those she killed rose against her, and dragged her to the deepest pit of Tartarus."

Uranus' face darkened, and she muttered something about how she wished she could have joined the ghosts.

Pluto asked, "How did you escape the grasp of the dark gods?"

"I prayed to Selene. She kept me from them, and dulled the pain."

Fighter held onto the blonde tightly as if trying to shield her from the horrible pain she must have gone through. Serena tenderly kissed her forehead, offering reassurance. She smiled at the rest of them. Healer was prepared to swear by all the gods known to man that the blonde had known that things would turn out fine all along. She exchanged a look with Maker, and realized that her fellow Starlight was entertaining the same thought. Fighter's eyes streamed tears of joy, and Venus was beaming and wrapping Serena in an almost bone-breaking hug. Mercury was smiling and brushing her tears away.

About that time, the others walked in. Mars looked at everyone's tear-stained faces and at Serena, who was alive and well but covered in blood, and asked, "What did we miss?"

Uranus and Pluto both did mental sweat-drops and looked like they were thinking hard. Finally, Pluto said; "I think we'd better let our Princess explain it."

"Long story short, after everyone else was dead/frozen in time, I got captured by Serenata. She tried to sacrifice my soul to some evil gods, but I prayed to Selene and Selene saved me. Unfortunately, my heart still got ripped out. Then, apparently a bunch of ghosts dragged Serenata to the deepest pit of Tartarus, and everyone came back to life. Selene sent me on my way, but I kind of got lost, so it took me longer to find my way back than it should have. I ran a little late, and I woke up to find that some of you guys had already found me and realized what happened," Serena said calmly, her tone very matter-of-fact.

Everyone else stared at her, and the blonde shrugged. "Hey, I didn't want to go into the gross graphic details…those are just too flipping gruesome, like a Stephen King novel or something."

Jupiter shook her head. "Don't worry, Serena. What you told us was freaky enough…my God, I can't believe some witch beat us that bad!"

"She was a goddess. Besides, we still won in the end."

"Technically, the ghosts won," Sailor Sun pointed out.

"Yeah, but still, we all came back to life. That counts as a victory for us."

"Unfortunately, the house is still destroyed," Neptune stated. "What will your parents say?"

Serena looked worried, and gulped. "Oh, crap. I am _so dead_," she whimpered. "My parents are going to _kill_ me! Honestly, I think I'd rather face Serenata again than face their wrath!"

"Something tells me you won't be held responsible for this, though," Maker soothed. "Chances are that they'll think a homicidal maniac and arsonist did the damage."

"You think?" the blonde looked at the violet-eyed Starlight hopefully.

"I _know_. And if there are any doubts…well…I'm sure that you can come up with a convincing story that'll be fairly close to the truth. A homicidal maniac isn't really far from it."

"True. Do you know how long it's been since the battle?"

"I would guess approximately two days."

"Yikes. My parents are probably at the police station, wondering what happened to me."

"They're probably worried sick," Mercury agreed.

"I guess I'd better let them know I'm alive, then."


	36. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Home Again**

**AN: **Yes…this will be the last chapter of this story. But cheer up…I've already got another idea.

To make a long story short and spare any squeamish readers unnecessary mushiness, Serena found her parents and Sammy at the police station. Needless to say, her appearance caused quite a stir. Her parents had her enveloped in a back-breaking hug, and were crying like crazy. Of course, Serena wasn't dry-eyed, either. However, they did eventually notice the blood, and the blonde was forced to spin a story about how a homicidal maniac had broken in and attacked her. She'd run away through a hidden door, but tripped over the body of one of his victims. Terrified, she'd run even further, and the killer had burned the house down, destroying all the evidence. Serena had been too afraid to come forward until now, due to the emotional stress of what she'd been through.

The blonde told this story with so many tears and sobs and with such sincerity that everyone believed her, and the lie detector didn't even catch her in her lie. Renee eventually told her father the real story, as he was aware of what really went on when odd things happened, and he discreetly supported Serena's story in all the ways he could. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino were so horrified by the traumatic experience their daughter had gone through that they spent several weeks doting on her and waiting on her hand and foot. Serena couldn't necessarily deny that she enjoyed the attention, but she wished that they would get a clue and realize what she really wanted. However, she didn't know how to ask.

Eventually, after several more weeks of cosseting their daughter, the two very relieved and emotionally overwrought parents settled, and began discussing the ways they could help the emotional scars to fade.

"Ken, I think we should take her somewhere that has no bad memories, a place where she always felt loved and safe," Ilene Tsukino told her husband.

"Honey, she knows that she's loved."

"I know, but I honestly am beginning to think that she left the love of her life back in Seattle. I know she has a wonderful friend in Renee Woods, but all of her closest friends are in Seattle. Maybe with their help, her wounds will heal faster and less painfully." Ilene had noticed her daughter's sadness, and had comforted her daughter when she awoke screaming from nightmares.

"Honey, I don't know if we can afford it."

"Ken, it's for your daughter's mental and emotional health. We need to do everything we can that could help her move past this."

Ken Tsukino nodded his head, knowing his wife spoke the truth. They'd both stayed up nights holding Serena, who woke up sobbing and screaming from nightmares every night. She'd told them what had happened, and it appeared that while she hadn't been harmed physically, it had been a strain for her emotionally and mentally. Ken Tsukino was a kind and loving man. He adored his wife and children; they were his whole world and meant everything to him. Therefore, he soon announced that they were moving back to Seattle.

This piece of news was greeted by a whoop from Sammy, and moment of silence from Serena as she processed what had just been said. Once it sank in, she gave a squeal and dove into both her parents' laps, wrapping them in a suffocating hug. After that, she called up Seiya and joyfully told him the news. Seiya in turn passed it on to Taiki and Yaten. Taiki and Yaten passed it on to Amy and Mina, who passed it on to the other Inner, who passed it one to the Outers. Need this humble author say that the welcome-home gathering had quite the turnout?

In the end, Serena returned to Seattle and her friends, and to the love of her life. Once Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino were gone, there was quite a smooch-fest, much to the displeasure of the Outers. They'd accepted the Starlights, but none of them were too crazy about getting a visual of how much their Princess and Seiya loved each other. Their growing nausea was not helped by the fact that Amy and Taiki, as well and Mina and Yaten quickly began their own smooch-fests soon after. Rae and Lita just sighed, and tried not to look for too long.

Later that night, Seiya and Serena were alone, snuggling beneath the stars.

"I missed moments like these when you were gone," Seiya said softly.

"So did I," the blonde sighed.

"That was bad, but those hours in the tunnel, after I found you…those were the worst. I couldn't think about anything but how I wouldn't hear your laugh or your voice again, or see you smiling up at me…"

"Don't think about that. That's in the past. All we have here is the now and forever."

"You're right. But you really had me scared for a moment."

"Sorry. I kind of got lost. Selene sent me off early enough that I should have gotten back in time, but she forgot to send me with a map. Of course, I daresay that even if I'd had a map, I would've read it upside down…" she giggled, and snuggled into Seiya's chest.

The dark-haired boy chuckled, and wrapped his arms around his greatest treasure.

"Seiya?"

"Hmm?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"I do. Do you know I love you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Do you know how much?"

"More than the stars, sun, and life itself?"

"Yes, and I'll always feel that way…now and forever." Softly, Seiya rested his lips against those of his blonde goddess, and the two basked in the light of the love they shared.

**The End**

**AN: **I know, that last bit was _sooooo_ corny!


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